


A Different Dish

by Proman



Series: Different Courses [1]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-01-04 08:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18339770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Proman/pseuds/Proman
Summary: Reborn on Planet Vegeta as the son of Bardock, I found that my new life was full of brawls, alien planets and a massive amount of screaming. With unknowns that my spotty memory could not have hoped to have predicted, will I become the Legendary Super Saiyan or will I become dust along with the Planet Vegeta? (Minus Based Insert)





	1. Minus

I had been reborn on a distant planet, far away from my former home planet of Earth, now a member of an alien species. Not even an interesting one, no wings or psychic powers but I at least had a tail, that was something that I liked. My new race placed their young in some sort of artificial womb, where they could grow without interfering with their Mother's ability to fight. This would last for about three years, I'm not sure how they solved other issues of that approach but being a babe at the time, I found myself not caring too much so I never found out.  
  
I remembered my first day out of my tube. My new Mother was kneeling down with a wide-open smile and soft bright eyes. She hushed the laughing people around her, to see if I would say my first word. Apparently, she had done so when she was let out, and so had her father. Family tradition, not a common thing among the people of this race.  
  
"Gine," One of the onlooker said, his spiky hair familiar to me in a way that sent chills down my back. "You decided on a name yet?"  
  
"Oh, Bardock," ‘Gine' let out in a sigh. My father was  _Bardock_  and this race had a tail. Was I Goku? Was I destined to be the greatest of this race? The strongest, the bravest, and the one who was going to be the legendary– "It's Raditz." That was when I let out my first words.  
  
"FUUCK"

* * *

  
That was about three years ago, and now I had entered a battle that was far too much for my current level. My opponent was the biggest of bullies, this was a monster responsible for the deaths of countless lives, today he was committing an even greater injustice, I would put an end to this madness now.  
  
"It's over," I yelled going in for a fierce uppercut against this enemy. They leaned back their chin just a tiny bit, dodging my fantastic blow with trained grace. Then I went in for a sweeping leg to their sitting form, hoping to use my small size to my advantage. That was when he picked me up by that very leg.  
  
"I got you now," he grinned at me, taking a bite out of  _my_  leg of meat. This was my new pops Bardock, once again chowing down on my dinner, it was usually a race to see which of us would manage to eat the most food. Sadly I was much weaker than him, so he won more often than not. This was my idea to attack him to take his food. "You're twenty years before you can defeat your old man." He laughed with a large grin on his face.  
  
I hadn't expected this sort of man, not when I realized Bardock was my father. I was expecting a cold, rather absent father, and while he could be absent he was never cold. Oh he was a Saiyan, he was loud and cursed, he spat on the ground and he loved knocking me around but he also was remarkably proud of me. That wasn't something I thought he would be when I was born Raditz.  
  
"Bardock!" Mom entered the Kitchen, her pink armor crinkling under the pressure of her crossed arms. "Put down your son and let him eat his dinner." She was more exasperated than angry, I honestly couldn't imagine her angry.  
  
Mom or Gine as was her name. She was also not someone I would have expected to have such I was reborn as Raditz. She was soft and demure, oh she was still a rather tough Saiyan, capable of dealing with the extremely fierce children that our race produced.  
  
"Right," Dad chuckled with a small amount of sadness, he loved messing with me. For some reason. "Better eat up quickly squirt," He told me chomping down on the meat in his hand. "Before I eat the whole lot."  
  
"Oh check my Power Level," I squirmed, now sitting next to him. I was always looking forward to any progress made to stall below a thousand number. "Please, Dad, please," I whined at him, not something I would get away with if lived like other children on Vegeta.  
  
"Oh right," He clicked the button on the side of his Scouter. "548, up good twenty points since last month."  
  
Mom looked down at my disgruntled face, with a massive smile on her's. She walked up to me and clapped onto me in a massive hug that crushed me to her. Mom always had this weird amount of happiness around her, for a Saiyan that was much too gentle for this world that worshiped killing.  
  
"Gine, stop babying the boy," Dad took pity on me, that allowed me to escape my Mom and return to eating my food with utmost seriousness. I could feel him ruffling the top of my hair, my long child Raditz hair. "Don't take it too hard, you're stronger than I ever was at your age," When that didn't work he tied something else. "Pretty soon you'll be joining your old man on missions."  
  
That didn't really help me, as much I was enjoying my new childhood of fighting and eating so far. I didn't really want to go out killing innocent people, I wasn't even all that sure why I was trying so hard to improve, Kakarot will bet the one to defeat Frieza. Bardock will just forget me once he gets those visions. Then Kakarot will be the only son to matter.  
  
"Hey," Mom stepped back into my view, giving me a typical gentle look of hers. "Why don't you finish up and go down to the Ring to play, I want to talk to your Dad in private."  
  
I nodded exiting the room, the energy that showcased how I felt at the moment. This didn't give me any better of a feeling than Dad's little confidence boost but I didn't want to be a problem for them right now. Afterall I was the only Saiyan outside of the Royal family that was being raised by his biological parents, no point in giving them a reason to kick me to a matronage/patronage.  
  


* * *

  
  
The Ring was a simple dirt ring, it was massive, easily big enough to fit about thousand of us fighting, it was used by young Saiyans when their Patrons wanted to train them. Patrons being the caretakers of young Saiyan children, given that most of my kind didn't even want to carry them to term, the weakest or the eldest of us were given the task of raising the unruly masses. I pitied the kid that had to fend for themselves.  
  
So when I walked into the ring I found that some of the local kids were trying to wreck a girl about my age, which was about four years younger than some of the bullies, by ganging up on her with long-range Ki blast attacks. Even with this, I was hesitant to intervene because this could have easily been the girls' idea. Saiyans was a bit battle hungry even as children. But what convinced me was the young girl yelling out in pain, she seemed to be in a bad spot. I gathered Ki to my hand forming a large sphere, and I threw it into the path of the oncoming blast.  
  
A massive bang was accompanied the largest flash any of them had ever in their lives.  
  
"Whats cha big idea," One of the larger boys stalked over to me, his words being a terrible slurred mess. "Wha ya dos yous better than us"  
  
What, what is that accent. I think I've been defeated by an accent. I am so confused by it that I don't know what to do with my face. I think the leader of this pack bullies took pity for me and decided to translate. He had a face that made me think that he was an illegitimate son of my new Pops, even looked about my age.  
  
"Forgive my friend," It was a smoother voice than I expected. It caused me to look at the boy, way too elegant for someone our age. "What he means is, do you think we'll let you live after that?" Wow, I been threatened by a kid version of my own new father. I feel so scared. That's sarcasm, by the way.  
  
"You must think you're a bi-" I deflected a blast with my left hand, easy as one would air. Leaping back away from two of my young male attackers who flew at me from opposite side like rockets at a moon, so by moving out of the way they ran right into each other with all that force. Knocking them down.  
  
"Two down," I looked at the gray mini-me of Pops with a stern eye. "There's about three of you left, I don't like your-"  
  
That was when the girl from before leaped in a grabbed the gray boy with two hands, picking him up and slamming him into the floor. Before two other boys could react she swept her hand across the air, yellow blasting them into unconsciousness. She came down on the gray kid again after that, punching him in the face until he lost several teeth. Then gripped his hair with one hand and threw him off to the other side of the arena.  
  
"Yo," The girl spoke up, smiling at me with a gap in her front teeth. "Thanks for the help, eh." Her face let out a look of confusion as if searching for my name from among her thoughts rather than asking me for it.  
  
"Raditz," I told her, taking a step back from her now approaching form.  
  
"Dish then," My eye twitched annoyed at the name but at the same time, I wouldn't verbalize that, I was not letting her know that. "I'm Peppa, Thanks for the save but I had'em just where I wanted them." She pointed at her chest, her child-sized battle armor had deep dents in it, scratches along its back.  
  
"Blasting you from a distance?"  
  
"Luring them into a false sense of security, making them think I was defenseless and going bang!" She jumped at me grabbing my arm in what was no doubt a result of her lacking any concept of personal space. Like most people here on Vegeta. "So how about we fight now, just you and me Dish." Peppa let go and took a step back, taking a stance that was not unlike a boxer and hopping from one foot to another. "Oh, I can tell you don't need no numbers to try me on in a fight."  
  
"Peppa!" An older voice yelled out, their male tone was filled with rage but the person yelling was still out of sight, so I could not even try to describe him. "What are you doing? You know that you're not allowed to the ring without finishing your chores first Peppa."  
  
"Feck," Peppa cursed, her teeth clenching at the unseen man. "Its the Patron," She pulled on my arm, practically dragging me through the air with the speed of a cheetah. "Quick we need to hide, where do live?"  
  
"Wha-" I let out, floating as to let her pull me quicker, it was easier than fighting her, to be honest. "Up the road, why am I running?"  
  
"You're standing around with me," She snorted, her nose crinkling into the air. "That's all that old hoot needs to tell your patron to punish you."  
  
"Its right here," I told her planting myself into the ground and swinging her by the hand through my doorless hut of a house.  
  
"Oh, my," A much gentler voice let out. "I think you got the wrong place kid, where's your matron?"  
  
"Hey Dish," Peppa spoke up from her new ground-based position as I entered my home myself. "I thought you said this was your patronage's place, it's much too small, and there's a meat maker here." I have no idea how she knew what Mom did for a living but I guessed it might have been all the spices Mom smelled of.  
  
"That's my Mother, hi Mom." I waved at her, seating myself at the nearby table. Peppa herself getting off the floor and following my example and sitting next to me, plopping her feet on my knees.  
  
"Raditz who's this?" She asked me, her face set in a small frown. Oh, I hope she wasn't mad at me.  
  
"I'm Peppa," The girl responded for me, bouncing her thumb up to her chest with a vast amount of energy. "Are you besides Dish's Mom?" She asked sniffing the air in front of her, smelling the meat that Mom was cooking with the kind of attention that told me that her Patron wasn't a cooking fellow.  
  
"I'm Gine," Her hands were on her hips as she stared down the two of us. "Dish? You're a friend of Raditz's?" Peppa nodded, then Mom had a strange look on her face as if she was trying to figure out if this was true.  
  
Then she squeed picking Peppa and me up with an arm each, spinning us around with a dazzling speed that almost made me think that Mom had achieved Super Saiyan. She hopped up and down, I could see the surprised look on the face of Peppa who seemed like she was super confused about this strange woman. That was when Dad entered the picture his face the picture of surprise.  
  
"Raditz," He started clearly confused at seeing me back so early before he caught sight of the young girl in Mom's arm. He backed out of the room like a fox out of a hen house, dragging along a piece of meat with him.  
  
"Bardock, I saw that," Mom sang, her joy unbound. "Come in here." I could hear Dad curse under his breath, thankfully for him, she didn't hear this. "Look Raditz has a friend."  
  
"Really, even seeing this, I don't believe it." he laughed with a smirk that I was going to wipe off his face if she ever let us go. Thankfully that soon happened but by then I realized once more that the chances of my even striking Dad at this point were slim. "So how did the squirt met you?" Dad asked her rubbing his scared check in thought.  
  
Peppa regaled them with the events of just moments ago. I found myself looking at their reactions rather than the story. Dad didn't react except for some kind of knowing smile on his face and Mom's reaction was...odd to say the least.  
  
"Oh Bardock," She leaned into him with a slow smile on her face. "Does it remind you of something else."  
  
I decided that I didn't want to know what they were talking about. It was better for my mental health that way. This moment of peace and tranquility was ruined by the door to our hut being banged on with the force of a small rhino.  
  
"Doors not locked!" Dad yelled. "But don't come if you plan on robbing us, I'll just kill you"  
  
"Ah Bardock," An elder man entered through the door. His brown hair was nearing grey in color, wearing older style armor without the shoulder guards. He noticed me looking at him from the corner of his eye spotting Peppa and me with a sly grin. "It has been a long time since I've seen you boy."  
  
"Patron Brocco," Dad frowned at the man, this was interesting to me. Dad got on with everyone, why wouldn't he get on with this guy? Did he not like Patrons? "What can I do for you?"  
  
"You see I have been looking for the young girl over there, she's a tricky one" He shrugged with apparent nonchalance. "Lucky for me I placed a tracker on her jumper this morning," Brocco patted the chest of his armor where we could all see the bulky tracker. "I'll take her off your hands now, could take the boy as-"  
  
"No thanks," Gine spoke up, cutting off the man with a chilling tone. "You can leave now Brocco, I'll keep the girl as well." The room became ice cold with that announcement.  
  
"I'm the girl's Patron girl," That earned him a frosty look from Dad to my relief, he was standoffish with Brocco before but still polite. I really didn't like the feel of this guy and didn't really like the idea of him being anyone's Patron. "I get to decide where the brat lives, what she does and whatever else strikes my fancy," He smirked widely his teeth glinting. "Unless you wish to challenge me?"  
  
"Nah," Mom told him all the while smiling cruelly, I knew where she was going. This guy might be stronger than her but no Saiyan is as strong as Dad is, he'll wipe the floor with him. "Raditz will kick your ass for his friend, won't you son."  
  
"Yeah h-" I stopped, looked at Mom, she smiled at me softly. I looked to Dad who gave me a huge thumbs up, and then looked to Peppa who looked as surprised as I am. I suddenly felt the need to just say yes. "I'll kick your ass."  
  
"Oh, that shouldn't be a surprise," He turned back to Mom and the look on his face made me want to beat him right into the ground even more. "You're a notorious coward after all." Insulting Mom like that gets you recked.  
  
"Come then," I jumped into the conversation. "You old wimp of a wet fart, let's get to it."  
  
The five of us calmly walked over to the Ring, Brocco walked in front separate from us while Dad was walking beside me and Mom had decided to take Peppa alongside her so they could chat without either me or Brocco hearing them.  
  
"Hey," Dad leaned down to me, the two of us still in the process of walking. "Don't worry about this fool too much, he's a Patron because he couldn't make it as a fighter," He chuckled at a thought. "Your Mom made it as one, she just doesn't have the right temperament for it but you Raditz, you have the spirit of a true Saiyan Warrior."  
  
"And it's fine not to have that temperament?" I asked him quietly. He ruffled my hair while standing back up straight.  
  
"Of course it is, this guy is just a sad old asshole," He cursed the man. That was when we finally got back to the Ring. The other children from before were standing off to the side, the gray mini of Dad was still nursing his shattered nose. He was something to be concerned about since he was probably Turles.  
  
"Now," Brocco clapped his hands, and then sweeping them wide open, leaving his chest exposed. "Shall we begin?"  
  
I decided to take him up on that offer, so my fist found itself buried in his gut. Brocco was shoved back by the blow, his spit splattering across the ground. He responded with a sideways chop, so I used my small size to my advantage sweeping his legs out from under him with a kick.  
  
Midway between the air and the ground Brocco's face showcased an amount of surprise that was common on those who found themselves over their head. So I followed up my prior attacks with the back of my fist right under his unprotected chin, this really sent him flying off.  
  
He flipped back around in mid-air, correcting himself and racing right back to me. We engaged in a startling fast bout of fisticuffs, sending blows at each other, blocking and ducking. Kicking and punching our way around the other's defenses. Fortunately, my small stature once again handed me the advantage as I oozed into his guard with a kick that sent him flying back once more.  
  
"Okay!" Brocco leaped up from the ground, he was yelling, his face red with rage, and his hands were glowing with Ki. "That's it you little shit! Take this!" He launched a beam at me, its heat could be felt even before he launched it.  
  
I gathered a ball of Ki into my hand, leaping away from the attack and at the same time lunging forward, I threw the ball at him as it was a baseball. The force of the throw warping the ball along the path towards its target.  
  
It exploded right in his face, causing him to close his eyes and opening him up to my next attack. A boot to the head, smacking him once more to the ground. Before I could make my next move he took hold of my right leg, leaped to his feet and picked me up by it. Then I found myself being battered across the ground, up and down, side to side. Until I finally had enough of this.  
  
I dug my hands into the ground, stopping his momentum cold and holding the two of us in place. I gathered some Ki into my mouth and released it in a small beam towards his face. He let go of my leg and threw himself to the ground in an attempt to escape the blast, the shoot ended up just cutting off the top of his hair.  
  
The two of us flipped back to our feet. We began to charge an attack each, he charged his in a single hand and me in two hands. Soon his left hand mirrored my right one and we both released a beam. They smashed into each other with a mountain breaking force, the ground beneath our feet started to creek due to this force.  
  
"You're strong, boy," Brocco started to gloat, his hands starting to glow brighter, the force of the beam started to gain ground against mine. My feet soon shifted backward, I was losings ground. "But I have been holding back." he ended his gloat with a maniac laugh.  
  
"Come on, Dish, don't make me take over!" Peppa yelled out from the sidelines.  
  
I smiled.  
  
I threw my left hand out and with it, a purple sphere found itself free from my grasp. It raced down the side of the beams, Its speed outlandish for its size as it soon homed in on its target. Then Brocco let out a sigh of relief as the ball just raced past him, he laughed.  
  
"That was a good try boy, but you missed." Brocco laughed so hard he closed his eyes.  
  
That was when the purple sphere did a one-eighty, turning around and heading right for the unsuspecting back of Brocco. Then it hit him so hard that he lost his control over his beam, breaking it and allowing me to see his ‘oh shit' face as my beam crashed into him with all its force. He fell to the ground, his body a smoky, blackened wreck, Brocco was no longer conscious.  
  
"You didn't keep your eye on the birdie," I smirked down at his fallen form.


	2. Graduation Of Sorts

It was about a month after beating Brocco that Dad told me that I had completely surpassed Mom in terms of power. That isn't surprising given what kind of person Mom was, but in fact, my Mom was pretty powerful for a former low-class warrior. From what I understood it was her lack of battle instinct or even any desire to do any harm that held her back from making anything of herself fighter wise.  She was actually considered a waste of good fighting potential by the other Saiyans.

 

But Dad told me that it was fine that she didn’t want to be a warrior, there wasn’t anything wrong with that, but it just meant I would have to  engage in more self-training than I would have before, as Dad would be gone very often to do missions and Mom was no longer considered an adequate trainer for me. This was one of those moments, and since no one was watching I had decided on how to train.

 

I would attempt to train my Ki Sense.

 

Well, I would try to attain Ki Sense, it just I had one issue right now. One major issue to this line of training, and she wouldn’t allow me any rest. Peppa.

 

“Dish,” I could hear her whine if I would open my eyes, I could properly see her face pout. If I looked I would crumble to her will, so I wouldn’t open my eyes. “Dish, don’t make me go get Gine.”

 

I have had to deal with this girl ever since I won the fight against Brocco. Apparently, Mom was so happy that I had made a friend that it wasn’t just about beating up that old coot, it was also about who gets to Patron/Matron Peppa. If I didn’t hate Brocco, I would have wished I lost instead. But no, now, Mom’s the new Matron of Peppa.

 

“Up,” She grabbed me by the arm yanking me forward and slapping me across the face. “Come and get me!”

 

I would not take that blow without some sort of comeback, the girl already treated me like I was some sort of item to be pulled around over the past few weeks, constantly wanting me to fight her at any moment, always wanting to hang out all the time. She was exhausting and if I didn’t take her down a notch here then she would just be walking all over me for years.

 

So I opened my eyes and found myself alone?

 

“Heyah.” She came down on my back like a koala to a tree branch. Peppa clung to my back as I twisted my arms back in an attempt to get hold of her and throw her off my back. She kicked my left shoulder and used the force to leap back into the air, allowing me to finally get a good look of her.

 

Peppa was wearing her new armor, Mom had made sure to get her newer armor. It wasn’t the newest style, nor did match my standard brown armor set, although she did lack the undersuit design that the elite warriors tend to have, Instead it was a purple color with single left should guard, standard leg guards and a pair of light purple pants.

 

“That's it!” I yelled flying after her. I went to thump her right in the chest, she blasted me with her right hand before I could enter melee range. Peppa followed this up with a spinning kick to my head smacking me back to the ground.

 

I kicked off the ground, smashing elbowing her right in the stomach and slamming her onto the ground. I gripped her arms and held her to the ground, sitting on her legs so that she couldn’t push any leverage to get back up. That was when Dad popped his head metaphorically into the training area.

 

“Hello,” He looked at the two of us. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything between you two?” He quirked his eyebrow up at me suggestively, I blinked down at Peppa who shrugged. I don't know if either of us knew what he was talking about.

 

“We’re just sparring, Bardock,” Peppa told him in response as I got up off her and we both got up to our feet. “You're back early, an easy world?” There was a nonchalance to the sentence that sent a chill down my spine. Sometimes the fact that Saiyans go out to Depopulate planets just drifts to the back of my mind.

 

“Just wildlife, not really something that should have been given over to my team,” Dad had a frown on his face. I would have to do something about this.

 

“Okay, then how about me and Peppa against you,” Peppa spring into a stance, bouncing on her feet and ready to move into an attack at any movement. I mirrored this action.

 

“Oh, you're battle hungry tikes aren’t you,” He smiled but turned around quickly walking away. “But not right now, since Toma had some free time I thought it would be a good idea for him to show you something.”

 

We blasted off into the air to follow him, falling behind him while Peppa was giving a questioning look. I was confused for a second as she started to mouth at me, waving her hands about the place in different motions, one of them reminded me of a swan.

 

“Peppa, I can’t read lips, what do you want to ask?” She bit her lip and looked at Dad’s back in concern. Leaning her head onto my shoulder, the two of us still floating in the air following Dad, she whispered:

 

“Who’s Toma?”

 

“Oh, he’s a member of Dad’s team,” I answered in the same volume, not really sure I did but I did. “Toma’s the second in command.” I looked her over and shook my shoulder knocking her head off it. Then we bumped into Dad’s form.

 

“So this is the new kid Gine’s got you picking up,” It was Toma’s booming voice that brought us to proper attention. He was a wearing armor that's only difference compared my own is that it was a light blue. His short, black hair contrasted against the longer, spikier hair of the rest of us. My eyes focused in on the white band on his left arm.

 

“Hey, Raditz,” Toma always had a smile on his face whenever I saw him, from what I was told by Dad’s other teammates he took credit for getting the two together, Fasha, the only female teammate now that Mom retired, told me was due him slipping them heavy alcohol. “Good to see you, little guy, how is your training going.”

 

“Great,” Peppa spoke up before I could, her energetic nature I took advantage so that I could talk as little as possible. “Dish has gotten really strong, now he doesn’t flinch whenever I send a full power energy wave at him.” That was a bad week. Apparently, her method of endurance training was to just blast you until you could walk it off.

 

Both Dad and Toma shared a laugh over this, no doubt finding this new fact quite funny, if it wasn’t for the look of indignation on Peppa’s face I would have thought that she was part of this joke. She tapped her foot impatiently on the ground until the two calmed down, she was the picture of adorable.

 

“Anyway,” The blue armored Saiyan coughed, placing a hand over his mouth. “I offered for Bardock to show you, kids, a basic rundown on how to repair the Attack Pods,” Toma revealed to me. I found this to be a great piece of info, for my eventual rebellion against the Planet Trade Organisation. “Let me tell you, kids, you may need to use what I teach to save your lives in the near future.”

 

Behind him was a standard Saiyan Attack Pod or Space Pod. For several moments Toma went over the specs of the small ship, give off a number for its top speed and how the hibernation function of the Pod. It turns out that for emergencies two people could use the same Pod. Usually, children of my size tend to share a single one between two of us.

 

“And this,” He pointed to the opened circuits of the Pod. “Is the tracking chip.”

 

“So that goes and the Organisation won’t be able to track us?” I asked him.

 

“Yeah, that's right.”

 

That was when I noticed that Peppa had done something really impressive. She had fallen asleep floating above in the air. This was something that I wouldn't let her get away with, if have to listen to boring Toma, she has to listen to him. Luckily I knew what to do to solve this issue. I slowly crept up to the girl, ready to take action. I jumped at her, and she moved to the left.

 

“Haha,” Dad’s laugh at my miss which awoke the girl, who yawned slightly crossing her arms over her head. “So I suppose I should tell you two the good news since you’ve managed to actually behave.”

 

“Oh, a surprise for us Mr. Bardock,” Peppa had turned out that sentence all sweet-like, it was so fake that Toma couldn’t help but laugh. “What is it?”

 

“Its that you two are getting your first mission,” Dad smiled at us with eyes his closed. “I’ll be accompanying you guys to a world, and together we’ll be taking it out,” He reached behind his back to a table, and he threw something at us, a thing for each of us. “Here’s your first scouter.”

 

We both put the device on so quick that I was sure that we had become Super Saiyan. I clicked the button on the side of the device, scanning the others in the room. Peppa had a Power Level of 450, Toma had an impressive 2,300, and Dad had an amazing power level of 5,200. Using the self-scanning mode on the scouter I discovered that I had a Power Level of 800.

 

That was when a click happened, with a flash of light following not soon after.

 

“Oh,” I could hear Mom before I could feel her, as she picked me up into the air. Crushing me against her armor in a tight grip. “My baby is growing up, Bardock!” She yelled much to the confusion of passersby. This wasn’t something that was normal for our race, this kind of parental panic that Mom displayed but it made me very happy to be born to such a human-like family dynamic.

 

She placed me down on the ground, shoving Peppa beside me and taking a few shots of me with her with the camera. Peppa had a confused smile on her face, still not used to the weirdness that was a Saiyan mother, but she would learn just as I had learned. Eventually, Dad put a stop to this.

 

“We’re not ready to leave yet,” Dad spoke up. “We have to wait for another kid, he’s reached the age to do this but you might have to mind him, he’s much weaker than you two.”

 

I nodded at Dad, he was very mission oriented in a way that other Saiyans weren’t. All for unit cohesion, there was no I in Dad’s missions, he wanted to keep everyone he could alive. Mostly because he thought that we had a low population already, with only a few thousand of us we couldn’t afford to lose more people because we didn’t keep an eye on each other, Dad would say. Really I think its because he’s a softy.

 

“Oh, hello there,” There was the smooth voice that came over us. It was Turles, Dad’s mini-me. His sick looking ashen skin just highlighted how much I wanted to thump him in the face. “Sorry I’m late, I'm not used to the area around here.” Look at him being polite, the bastard. He looked over at me and Peppa. “Are you the ones that are coming with me to Rygol 7?”

 

“Bardock,” Mom stood there her hands on her hips. She was cross about something here, got me kind of worried about it to be honest. “Why do you have a sick looking mini version of yourself?”

 

Good question. Cheap low-class warrior genetics, probably. At least I hoped I wasn’t related to Turles.

 

* * *

While this was happening far away in the depths of space, a few weeks closer to the target planet than I was, there sat spaceship traveling throughout the cosmos. It was a unique ship, hidden within a planetoid so that none would tell that it was even a ship.

 

It was a cold ship, the majority of its occupants being from a rather cold climate. That was probably a good thing when it came to engine cooling if I was being honest, but here the cold only added to the depression that came with working for the ship’s owner. He was a tyrant that was once unmatched in both his power and cruelty and, while one former may have faded over the years, it had yet to disappear fully.

 

For he was the Super Namekian, Lord Slug.

 

He was a member of his race that had reached a higher consciousness. A level that allowed a Namekian to achieve an even greater level of power than many thought was possible. At the time Lord Slug achieved this state of being he had been among the strongest in the known universe. Sadly time had taken away that from him. Now all he had were weakling underlings and a ship disguised as a meteor.

 

Why was his ship disguised like that? Because there were bigger things than Super Namekians.

 

"Lord Slug," the ship's pilot, a member of some other species that he forced into his clan, spoke up to him. Slug could barely remember when he picked this one up, but that mattered little to him. “We will be arriving at the planet in several weeks.”

 

“Good,” The words oozed out of the Namekian’s mouth like slime out of a slug. “And how is the planet's defense looking?”

 

“Weak, your highness, we will have a little problem smashing through all of them.”

 

“Good, good,” The tyrant closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. “Commander Zeeun, ready the troops for their formation training, I want them to be a well-oiled machine by the time we hit planetside.”

 

Zeeun nodded his head, his orange skin complimenting his horned appearance. He was also dressed not unlike He-Man. He was one of the strongest members of the Slug’s crew, a dedicated man who truly believed in Lord Slug. So he walked out of the room, ready to commerce in Lord Slug’s orders of having the troops practice military formations. Sadly for the troops, while Commander Zeeun was a strong warrior, he was also a moron of the highest degree. So these exercises weren’t going to be much help in what they were soon to face, on Rygol 7.

 

* * *

With Mom and Dad talking to the side of the spaceport--Well, Dad was the one talking right now, mostly about how his face isn’t really all that unique among Saiyans, and how he was surprised that she hadn’t met anyone else that looked like him. Apparently, Dad knew six other people who look like him. Huh, interesting, probably means that whoever gramps was, slept around a lot.

 

“So, you're to be my underling,” Turles had walked closer to me since I’d last looked at him.

 

“Your underling?” I quirked my eyebrow at him in bemusement. “That's an odd thing for a guy who couldn’t beat someone without a five to one advantage to say.”

 

“All that proves is that I’m of higher intelligence than you,” He smiled from the side of his mouth. Perhaps no would notice me killing him now, or sabotaging his Pod. “Anyone who can whip up such unruly boys into a fighting force deserves the rank of leadership.”

 

“Peppa, give him the finger." She did so, much to Turles’ anger.

 

“Let's get one thing straight,” Turles grabbed me by the shoulder, I wasn’t impressed and Peppa giggled at his  _macho_  display. “I’m the oldest here, and I’ve only gotten stronger since the last time she faced me,” He attempted to squeeze my shoulder, I was  _really scared_  right now, really I was. “You do not want to get me mad, little boy.”

 

Oh right, I had forgotten that he was older than me. You see, typically a Saiyan kid’s first mission is when they’re three and fresh out of the Pod, which means that they’re too weak for the government to care whether they live or die. So they send to some distant world. The other way is when they’re strong enough to raise in a Patronage, then their first mission is either when they reach a certain power level or when they’ve reached the age of 10.

 

The first was me and Peppa, the latter was Turles.

 

“Look,” I grabbed his hand, squeezing it just hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to break anything. “We’ll be looking after each other but don’t think that means you can boss us around. After all, I didn’t qualify for this mission due to my age.”

 

I could see his surprised expression that hung on his face as I let go. It seemed that Turles was under the impression that he was the only Saiyan that trained. How cute.

 

With that I left him in the glaring presence of Peppa, she didn’t like him any more than I did, properly less than I liked him, to be honest. I walked over to Dad as he finished kissing Mom--eww, wish I hadn’t seen that. They should be doing that in private.

 

“What you doing back over here?” He asked me, ruffling my hair. “I’m not going to wait for you to get ready much longer,” Dad warned me.

 

“I was just wondering if it was,” I looked over to Mom who had started to pester Peppa about something in whispered tones, something that left young girl red in the face. “Is it really okay to leave Mom on her own like this?”

 

He looked down at me for a second. I could feel him searching for words throughout his mind that would assure me that was a good course of action. Dad knelt down to my level, placing his hand off my head and onto my shoulder.

 

“You know,” He started to speak in a low voice, so low that I don't anyone could hear me but him. “I had the same thought back when you were still in your Pod,” There was a soft look to his eyes that I didn’t see often even from this already kind Father. “You were so small in there, not even a power level of 2 yet, and I just thought you could disappear at moment’s notice,” He chuckled under his breath. “Or that you’d grow so fast in there that I’d miss you coming out of there while on a mission, didn’t even take a mission until two months of you being in there.”

 

“What changed your mind?”

 

“Toma came in,” Dad’s smile became twice the size it was earlier. “Shouting about how some guy named Onio was bad talking your Mom, couldn’t let that stand, boy,” I nodded with agreement at that. “But he was off on a mission, so Toma convinced me to go after him,” He entered a thoughtful expression. “Of course that was a lie, that bastard, Toma, he just wanted me to stop lying about at home doing nothing.”

 

“Oh,” I was confused now about what this story was trying to tell me. I was thinking that it was going to teach me a lesson.

 

“But you know what that mission taught me,” I shook my head in the somehow universal negative manner, here was the lesson, I thought happily. “That you weren’t going anywhere, and neither is your Mom, Rygol 7 is only about three weeks from here, and when you get back, she'll be exactly where we left her, ready to mother you into embarrassment.”

 

“Okay, Dad”

 

“Do you feel better?” He asked me as he stood back up to his feet, using my head as leverage but I nodded all the same. “How about you give your Mom a hug. No one who matters will care about you doing so in public.” Dad shoved me forward to Mom, my legs taking over for the rest of the action.

 

I did the act without much thought then, catching Mom by surprise with the act. In the back of mind, I knew that I would eventually get teased for this later in life, but for now, I didn’t care. This was going to be the first time I would be without in my new life, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go, but this was what I would have to do, to ensure that a better future was in store for Mom.

 

So we all entered into a separate Pods and blasted off to Rygol 7. Off to the first eventful Mission of my life.

 

* * *

 


	3. First Mission! Gone Wrong?

The Ship awoke me with a rather loud beeping noise. Its tune reminded me of a song, ‘Losing my Religion' rather than an alarm clock. I slammed my fist down on the button, signaling that I was awake. That was one I looked out the viewport.

 

The entire world was covered in spiraling clouds.

 

I couldn't help but be amazed at such a thing, was this what kind of alien worlds existed in this universe? One that can develop life even in environments like this. An environment that conventional life like Saiyans and humans shouldn't have formed, but still persevered. That was when I noticed a large spinning object high in the world's atmosphere. it was spitting the oppressive looking clouds.

 

All of us descended down through the thick clouds, our ships shaking with so much force that I would have thought that they were going to break down just from the friction between them and the world pushing upon each other. Like the world was trying to beat us off it before we could land on its surface.

 

It was a terrifying sight, watching as my ship was surrounded by the flames of atmospheric entry. The vessel started to go faster, and faster as the world below me was naught but a blur to my eyes. I began to scream out, a reaction not too dissimilar to being on a rollercoaster. It was not in fear and I will beat anyone that would say that.

 

Then suddenly, it was all over. I had landed safely on this strange planet that was called Rygol 7. This would be the start of a bad path if I wasn't careful, but I would have to take solace in knowing that this event wasn't really something that I could stop. Whether it was me now or another Saiyan in a month, this world was be desolated. I wasn't sure that I could do it.

 

That was when Dad started to yell.

 

"Oh fuck," I hopped out of the Pod with a limp like daze. This was a mistake, the weather was freezing, not enough to make a strong saiyan like Dad and me sick, but it did make me worried about Peppa.

 

"Yo Bardock," Peppa flew off past me like the Apollo Rocket after Earth's Moon. "What's with all the yelling?" That was what I wondered as well.

 

"Look up," Dad pointed up to the sky, the dirty cloud coverage made this world seem like some kind of Fist of The North Star style world, with moody lighting that meant that it was hard to tell the time of day. The abandoned buildings also helped with that image. "We won't be able to see the night sky."

 

"So this kind of cloud coverage me-"

 

"Means that we won't be able to transform into the Oozaru." Turles's voice interrupted me, the ass, as his form descended from the sky. He landed with his arms crossed and face set in a concerned look. "Is this going to cause an issue? We weren't going to rely on Oozaru for my first mission were we?"

 

"Yes," Dad told him plainly, but that seemed to get Turles riled up into a fuzz for some reason but he was just ignored. "Rygol 7 has some rather radical weaponry that two of you don't have the power necessary to deal with, not without transforming anyway," Dad frowned, eyes focusing on little snowflakes starting to fall from the sky. "It seems that planet has entered an early Ice Age."

 

"Did no one else notice a spinning object in the orbit of this place?" I spoke up drawing the other three’s attention to me. "I had noticed on the way down. Didn't think much of it, but now I think that it is the cause of all this."

 

Dad pressed a button on the side of his scouter, the electronic beeps coming from this device reminded me of eighties synth. He gained a look on his face like he suddenly came to some kind of realization about what was happening.

 

"Ah, so a terraforming process, interesting," Dad said while peering up to the sky before tapping on his scouter once more. "Well, it seems that our target has been taken by some other force," He peered down at the three of us, looking for some kind of silent sign. "Well, we better check it out, the scouter doesn't read anything above 1,330," Dad explained. "So, we should be fine, but keep your senses opened. We don't want to get caught off guard. Even the strongest of warriors can be killed when caught off guard."

 

With that, we nodded at him, our eyes meet. There was something odd about this situation, and I had a bad feeling about this. I would have to keep more than an eye out.

 

* * *

The air here was only getting colder, which only helped to complement the ruined streets. It helped to paint the picture that a large battle had taken place in this city. There didn't seem to be a sign of anyone on this street, nor was there any being picked up on my scouter. Several of these buildings were frosted over, granting them the appearance of a winter palace, with snow-white walls.

 

Thankfully, this level of cold didn't affect our saiyan biology too much. We could withstand much colder environments than this. Though, I should say that after this mission, I'm going to start wearing real pants instead of these shorts.

 

Honestly, with the terraforming machine in the sky and the barren streets, this was starting to really remind of something else. I could almost taste the answer on my tongue.

 

Dad signaled to us to stop and drop. He knelt down on the ground, sifting through the snow until he found blackened ash. His hand grasped it and brought it to his nose and he sniffed just enough so that he got its smell in his nose, but not the ash itself.

 

"Just as I thought."

 

"And that thought was?" Turles sounded snotty, so I shoved him slightly. That got a cross look from him.

 

"They tried to put up a fight," He wiped his hands off the black of his pants. "Damn squids couldn't handle the cold, this is not a temperature their species is good at handling," He explained once he saw my confused expression. "That's why this was meant to be a simple mission-"

 

"Due to their species' lack of resistance to cold, they must stay in more temperate climates." Turles once again interrupted someone, Dad looked to him for a second. "Means that they're mostly in one area."

 

"Raditz," Dad nodded his head from me to Turles. I understood his message and thus kicked Turles right in his leg, the young boy stumbling to the ground. "Brat," He said to him, the lack of lighting in this area added a menace to Dad that I rarely saw in person. "Don't interrupt your superiors, they won't all be as nice as I am."

 

Turles scoffed at Dad, his face mirroring that action in what could only be described as the facial version of it. He stood up on feet once more, giving me a look that promised a tantrum. With this kind of interaction, you would never have thought that he was four years older than me with his attitude.

 

That was when we heard movement coming from one of the buildings. It wasn't so much a crunchy noise, but a slimy one. Just hearing this caused chills to go up my spine, and what came out of the ruined building only amplified this feeling.

 

There were two of these massive creatures, covered in some sort of suit that for some reason didn't cover their feet, but their heads were covered in domes. I barely could see their faces, they had a single eye and a rather odd looking horn on their forehead, their green-skinned was similarly suited to the rather sharp teeth. The most striking thing to me was that they were some kind of tentacle creature.

 

"That's just what we need Kota," One spoke up, its voice annoyed more than scared. "Saiyans, what next ,will the entire Freeza force show up?"

 

"And to think Yaki, the worst that could happen to us because of these Saiyans is that they kill us"

 

"Too true, Kota"

 

I had no idea what was going on here, are these the Rygolians? If they are, they're certainly strange enough to have radical weaponry. I would have thought that they would be less casual with a force that was planning on wiping them out. Could they be dangerous? I went for my scouter, pressing its button and scanning everyone.

 

Dad and Peppa were the same as the last time, Turles was at a respectful 269, which, for a child, was good. The two Rygolians' power levels, on the other hand, were at around 90 each. Maybe they were hiding their true power or weren't capable of knowing our levels.

 

"We won't tell you any of our people's secrets saiyans," The one I think was called Yaki spoke, I couldn't really tell them apart, was that racist? "Not that there are a people here anymore." The two began to weep.

 

This was starting to get uncomfortable and everyone else also found this slightly unnerving, except Turles, he was smirking. After all, we came here for a fight against this world's warrior. Yes, also to kill all of them, but the main drive was to fight their warriors. I doubt Dad thought we would end up arriving with them all dead and some other race in their place.

 

"How come?" Peppa had floated above their heads, an innocent smile on her lips. That girl just couldn't stay on the ground. The two somehow dried up their tears for a moment, Peppa's innocence coming into play here. They seemed to take her as she was a child and most adults who aren't saiyans don't like to upset kids, so they dried their tears. "Who did them in? Dish and me will smack their brains in." Thanks for the volunteering me there Peppa.

 

"WAH-WA-WAHHH but your just a child." That last sentence seemed to have broken them again. "You'd meet your doom!" I don't think they've realized what we've been sent here to do yet. Perhaps with this, I could get some info out of them on what was going on.

 

"Okay seafood," Or Turles speaks up instead, that's  _fine_. "Tell us who or I'll blast you and the rest of this building."

 

"No!" Kota, I think it was, yelled out. "Please, this building houses the last infants of our race, this is the only one with the necessary heating left that can possibly survive the terraforming process."

I'm not sure that is how it works? They might need a better building than this beat up one with an internal power supply because, with this level of terraforming, the power connections would soon be cut.

 

"Then you better tell us what you know." Dad finally spoke up, his voice demanding their attention. His power though, that demanded their respect.

 

* * *

Lord Slug had this throne and that throne said a lot about the man. It was a massive throne, much larger than ten men standing atop of each other. It was an extravagance that few would call tasteful, never mind comfortable. The throne was a plain statement of Slug's power.  This was like many things that the Super Namekian had ownership of. They were there for statements, never for a purpose.

 

"Lord Slug," A technician spoke up, his form trembling in his master's presence. "I'm afraid that we've come upon a problem with the terraforming process."

 

"A problem?" Slug asked. His voice was just above a whisper, but it still felt like the room just got heavier. "I thought that you've got this process figured out?" There was something about Lord Slug's calm voice, it made those hearing it sweat.

 

"Yes, well," The technician stumbled through his words. "You see sir, we have, but this is the first time we've dealt with a planet of this size. We usually deal with smaller."

 

"I know this, I've been here for every use of the terraforming process since the technology was created," He stood from his throne, his robe scraping across the floor as approached the now kneeling clan member.

 

"Your projection said six days, and we are on the fifth, and yet only now that I hear that we have problems," Slug continued his stride raising his eyes to look above to the ceiling for just a moment as if he was contemplating on his life choices.

 

"Goodbye." Was the last word the Lord said to him and before the technician could get another word in, Slug's eyes landed back to him. A glow of red was the last thing he ever saw.

 

The room was struck silent. No-one wanted to be the one to break, for they feared that they would be next. That was when Lord Slug sat back down on his throne and spoke.

 

"I can sense the presence of some notable powers that just arrived in the area. Go deal with them"

 

"Yes, Lord Slug," It was Commander Zeeun that spoke up, the man kneeling on the floor below the throne, his eyes never meeting his Lord's. "I will lead a troop of our finest men to deal with them." With that Zeeun left the room like it was set ablaze in a fire.

 

The body was removed without another word being spoken by the Lord. Everyone knew their place, they knew what would happen to those that failed him. This was all standard operation for them, another technician would act his that division's head, and he would be just as expendable as the last. To Slug and to his clan.

 

* * *

We didn't stay long around the rather disturbing Rygolians. We found out that they knew very little about this invading force. They weren't military, and apparently, that sort of knowledge was kept from them, not too sure why, but in the end what we could learn was interesting.

 

Apparently while powerful, the invaders truly relied on this cold weather to defeat the ill-equipped forces of this world. It seemed that the cold affected their radical weaponry so much that they became faulty and prone to blowing up in their faces. We were told these deaths were worse than the cold. I could barely believe that, especially with the way the cold was causing my skin to redden in places. A good fight would help rid me of that.

 

Still, it was smart, I suppose, but not all that exciting a battle strategy for me to imagine. I would have hoped that this world has some kind of climactic final battle that I could mildly fib about to younger kids. For storytelling purposes only, I ensure you.

 

Still, some kind of great conflict was about to happen, or at least one that appeared to be much nobler than the previous one to the remaining survivors. These  _evil_  invaders, coming down on this world and killing its native inhabitants, what an evil act. Such an act would have made my blood boil if I didn't feel so happy that I wouldn't be doing that act myself. No, instead, I would be avenging the deaths of millions of innocent people.

 

Not because anyone but me actually cared about the innocent lives, we were here to kill them in the first place, but it was due to the mission parameters. This world was to be depopulated, no matter the species that was in control of it.

 

Turles also seemed pretty happy with this development, no doubt he was looking forward to crushing anyone though, no matter how weak or strong they were. Dad looked like he was worried about the scouter readings. They all looked to be weaker than us so far, but I already know that some people can hide their true power, so that was a worry that I shared.

 

And Peppa was just happy to fight anyone. She was a simple person. Not dumb, but she had simple desires, and those seemed to be to hang around me and fight a lot. Which I suppose is what she wants from me, to fight a lot.

 

The Invader’s main base seemed to be the ship that these guys came in on. It was big, probably the same size as King Vegeta's palace, the metal was a dull gray and dark black. It had four massive leg-like structures jutting out of the center of its body. It was a cool and impressive beast of a ship, but it reminded me of something that I had seen before. The knowledge sat right on the tip of my tongue.

 

"Raditz!" Dad's yell rocked me back from my daydreams. "Pay attention, this is no time for you to be off in your own world!"

 

"Oh, I don't know," A new voice popped in conversation. "I'd let the kid, he won't get another chance."

 

Looking down we found a group standing below us a top of a random building. There were four of them, a blue guy in a toga with blonde hair, an orange fellow in a He-Man outfit, some kind of green goblin creature from Fable and a rather gargoyle-esque being with two wings.

 

"And you are?" Dad arched an eyebrow as he landed in front of them, the rest of us behind. This gave us a chance to press upon our scouters.

 

The readings they gave me were a little nerve-wracking, the orange-flavored He-Man had a level of 4,200. The blue guy's level was just as scary at a 3,700. Thankfully, the winged fellow had a power that was manageable at 1,200, and finally, at 350, the last one would only give trouble to Turles and that was the goblin. I think I let Turles take the bigger one.

 

"I'm Commander Ze-" Ze never got to establish his full name as Dad had sent a lightning-fast finger beam right into his skull. His headless body stayed upright for several seconds before flopping to the ground like a wet log.

 

"You bastard!" The Blue one yelled as he flew forward with fist held up.

Dad took this as some sort of signal that they would take this somewhere else, the two soon disappearing behind some of the ruined landscape in front of us. While this was happening I kept an eye out for the other two henchmen, trying to decide how to play this.

 

It came to me in a flash of inspiration, it was then I knew what to do.

 

"Okay, you Wings," I pointed at the one with wings. "You and me," I boosted into him ramming my shoulder into his stomach, knocking him right off the building and onto the street below. Jumping down after him, I started to gather energy in my palm. "We'll have a Weekly Special." I started to blast down at the fallen form of ‘Wings', each blast causing an explosion of light once hitting their target.

 

I turned my head back to see the other two fight, watching Peppa dance through the attacks that the goblin thing was sending out to her. Peppa leaped over a large energy attack, her hand grabbing it in mid-air, and she launched it back to towards her opponent's position, striking him in the face.

 

By the time he had recovered, Peppa entered into a combo full of kicks, thumbs, and headbutts. Each blow knocked this creature further back to the edge of the roof. She ended this assault with a vicious handlebar, knocking through the roof and into the building below.

 

I soon began to wonder, where had Turles gotten off to? Had he ran away or was he just biding his time until he could get a shot in on a bigger kill? He did seem like a kill stealer to me.

 

Sadly my lack of focus on my own fight soon lead to my opponent charging at me from the ground and clotheslining me right in the neck, taking the air from it. Then with a rough hand, he began to swing me about by the arm, slamming me to ground below us, back to his old position.

 

With barely any time to brace myself, I gathered ki to my hands and span back around to face him. His rather massive fist was soon to be oncoming to my face, so I smacked my two hands to gather forming a shield against him.

 

"Wednesday Wall!" A large green shield arose in front of me. WIngs thwacked into it with little regard. Thankfully, my shield held and I could finally get a better look at the damage I had inflicted earlier to him.

 

His upper armor was wrecked, there were only specks of its black material left on his body. Wings was also missing a large section of his right ear. There was a good amount of bruising on his arms too, no doubt from the majority of blasts I had sent at him with my Weekly Special.

 

I had hoped that this fight wouldn't end too quickly, this was no fun if I didn't get a good fight out of him. I would have to be careful though, as the difference between our powers will only grow bigger the longer this fight goes on, and I was at a disadvantage going in.

 


	4. Slug Clan Vs Super Alien Monkey Team Hyperforce GO!

Peppa dropped down into a wreck of a building. Her form was that of a smooth operator, knowing their surroundings like it was a suit they were wearing. Her opponent was not so lucky; they landed head first into the concrete floor. The only thing that was stopping him from smashing his head open was his species' durability.

 

"Come on," Peppa gloated with a lazy smile adorned on her lips. "Ya gotta do better than that."

 

"That's it!" the goblin's back started to bubble over, hands and legs began to form out of this mess of flesh.

 

"Eww," She squirmed in her place. "That's gross, I'd wanted this to be fun." There was a whine to her voice that only people familiar with children would recognize. She wasn't finding this fun anymore. "I'll just end this."

 

Peppa charged at him with little fanfare, but she was soon taken back by the mini goblins that exploded from the original's back. They spiraled around in the air, creating far too many targets for the young Saiyan deal with at once.

 

"Juice her, boys!" He yelled, his hands raised so far up that one would think that he was about to do a dance. "I want her in the ground!" They enclosed what little space that was left around her. That was their mistake.

 

For every time one entered her range she would kick, she would weave and would punch them right out of the bat. Eventually, Peppa just leapt back from them. Now no longer counterattacking, she just began to effortlessly dodge all of the mini goblins' attempts at grabbing her.

 

Peppa's palms started to glow with an intense yellow light she started to wave them about in front of her. She looked not unlike a conductor orchestrating a music ensemble. Then, it exploded out as a massive wave, sweeping up mini and full-sized goblins alike in its death-by-heat. They hit the wall with a bang, then the yellow light started to focus on them with a zeal, zooming in and becoming a focused disc.

 

And finally, there was an explosion.

 

Massive smoke clouds were all that could be seen for a while, but Peppa wasn't one to rely solely on her sight, so when her scouter picked up her opponent below her, probably having dug underground, she flew up to the air and waited. Then she saw the hands pop up from the ground.

 

A spinning ki blast was thrown down at their position, exploding into yet another cloud. Peppa waited for just a second...and she threw a fist right behind her, smacking the original goblin-like creature that had sprung up from nowhere down to the floor with all the force of a gorilla.

 

With his hands opened up, he bounced off the ground and back to his feet. The goblin creature soon found himself overwhelmed as Peppa started back on him with a kick to his face, then followed up with a blow to his neck. He barely managed to catch her next fist with his forearm but sliding back from the attack all the same.

 

"This is taking too long," She whined once more, scrunching up her face into a frown. "You're boring me, stop being boring."

 

"You little shit, do you know who you're dealing with?"

 

It was at that precise moment that Turles came smashing through one of the still standing walls with a fist enveloped in purple energy. Bearing down on the goblin, his fist opened into a palm.

 

Then at the last second;

 

"Eat this!" he yelled out, the purple erupting out of his palm enveloping the foe, blasting him into a fiery death'. He looked down at the smoky remains, a smile on his face. That was quickly gone when a fist briefly encountered his chin, knocking him onto the floor and leaving him with blood pouring over his lips.

 

"You dumbo," Peppa let out in a huff, her arms soon crossing. "What are you doing taking my fights away from me."

 

"You were taking too long." Turles smirked up at her, wiping his lip on his forearm.

 

"Then you should've gone after him first."

 

Peppa huffed and launched herself out of the building, hoping that if she was lucky, then she should be able to catch sight of Raditz still fighting that winged dude. That would at least be exciting to watch, if only for the entertainment of seeing him eliminate a fighter that is of similar power level as Raditz.

 

This was something that she had been waiting for, a moment where she could see Raditz pushed to his limits in combat. In the fight against Brocco, she was sure that the long-haired Saiyan was holding back. There was no other reason for someone who had little trouble dealing with her in their sparing matches to have such issues with dealing with an old fart that wasn't suited for combat missions. Still, she was thankful that she no longer had to deal with that creep.

 

Now though, now she would see what this odd Saiyan was capable of. She would get to see how he would fight when his life was on the line. What was he willing to do, would he still be too soft, like he was in their spars, or would he be as vicious as Bardock was earlier. Willing to take cheap shots if it meant that his opponent couldn't overwhelm him.

 

Peppa was soon going to find out because Raditz and his opponent ‘Wings' had just entered her sights.

 

They smashed into one another, their forearms striking together in a sound that captivated Peppa's mind. It reminded her of the sound that would accompany the arrival of massive ships on a world if you were nearby when they landed.

 

Their fists smashed into each other, left and right. Just one after another in an endless barrage of attacks, where ‘Wings' had the reach, but Raditz had the speed. Their fight started to get closer to her with every blow they exchanged. Soon Peepa could feel the vibration that the two were emitting. She could only watch with wide eyes.

 

Raditz leapt back from a wide swing of Wings' fist, a finesse for combat that was rarely seen in the low-class warriors. He then pushed himself back into the fray with a knee to Wings that looked as if was on fire, a burning yellow flame surrounding it. This sent the larger fighter flying back from both the force and pain that the blow caused him.

 

Wings slammed through a building, his form though was still clearly visible to both Raditz and Peppa. This allowed Peppa to finally get in a real look at her friend. His armor was mainly intact, the only damage that she could make out was a broken shoulder guard. He was also breathing rather heavily and had a massive bruise under his right eye.

 

Raditz then started a move that Peppa had trouble recognizing, and that said something given how much she watched him during practice. He cupped his hands together by his side, a low blue light started to emit from his hands.

 

"KAAMEEEHAAMMEEE," he started chanting. Somehow, the young female Saiyan found the pose so enchanting. Especially with the way his hair just billowed behind like the capes that were found on royalty.

 

"HAAAAAAA!" Raditz threw his hands forward, blue energy rushing out from an equally blue sphere grasped within his hands. This massive wave slammed into the enemy. It was like a tsunami that would wipe out people that lived too close to the coast. Wings soon disappeared, like he was never there in the first place. A life snuffed out.

 

And Peppa found it amazing.

 

"Raditz, that was awesome!" she yelled jumping onto the arm of her friend, Peppa held on to it with all her strength. "Ya gotta show me that move, so do it again." She dragged him down to the street, smashing some kind of vehicle in the process of landing. Peppa started to mime the action.

 

"Hey!" yet another voice yelled in. The two looked down the street at the rather impressive number of troops. They were wearing white battle armor with little color except for a purple visor on their helmets. There were the mooks of the Slug clan. "This planet is now under the control of Lord Slug, surrender now or we will be forced to-"

 

"Yes," Peppa started to jump up and down. She turned to Raditz with a sparkle in her eye. "Okay, this time you can watch me kick some ass, and then you…" There was a pause as she searched Raditz form up and down. Peppa leaned on his slightly taller form, her eyes wide staring into his in the same way a puppy would. "You show me that technique."

 

"Ohhkay." Was Raditz's rather bemused reply.

 

With that Peppa turned around ready to face against the onslaught of about two dozen warriors. Ready to prove her power, her skill against these numbers. Peppa would be one to impress now, she was sure of it.

 

Then the white armored warriors just blew up. Meaty chunks being flung into the air.

 

"Jesus," Raditz exclaimed, his speech slipping back into his old curse vernacular. "That was impressive, did you just explode them with a stare?"

 

Peppa did not respond; she was just too shocked at the scene before. Realizing what happened, she looked up and found him. Turles, with his hand smoking.

 

"You...YOU'RE A SHORT TAIL!" Peppa rocketed up at the ashen Saiyan, only to be held back Raditz with by the back of her foot. He just barely brought her back down the ground, his arms trapping her in the greatest of techniques. The Full Nelson.

 

"Raditz, let me at him," She whined at him, her legs now dangling in the air. "He's a dirty kill stealer." The word was said as if it was a swear word.

 

"Oh," He let her out of his arm, which earned him a wide mouth smile from Peppa. This smile soon enough became a rather harsh grin as Peppa homed in on Turles's smirking position. Just when the two were about to exchange blows, one of the buildings nearby exploded, showering the area in the red glow of the explosion.

 

A whole building went up in flames.

 

"What a piece of trash," Bardock stepped out of the flames, his form that of a demon coming out of hell. He threw the battered, dead form of toga-wearing blue man onto the rough pavement. "You kids seem to have dealt with the other two."

 

"Bardock," Peppa hopped over to him and pouted. "Turles is a dirty short tail."

 

Bardock laughed at the expression from the young girl. Patting her on the head, then the father of one turned to his young son, a silent question was asked with just a look.

 

"Turles has been stealing all her kills," Raditz supplied, an amused vibe coming from him. "He's kind of an ass, so you might have a word with him about angering people stronger than him."

 

During this talk, Turles had landed on the ground next to them. He crossed his arms and was smirking at Peppa with a smug, satisfied expression. Bardock looked at the oldest child here, then at the youngest one.

 

"Okay, Peppa," He waited for a nod from the girl. "You get one hit, no low blows."

 

This drew a smile from the girl and a shocked expression from Turles. With barely a pause, Peppa lunged forward and socked Turles in the eye, though the one opposite to where his scouter was situated.

 

"Good hit," Raditz praised and gave her a thumbs up. "Got to have gotten a good mile there."

 

"Thanks, Raditz...you'll teach me that attack now?"

 

"Now is not the time for that!" Bardock barked suddenly. "Turn on your scouters! And Turles get off your ass!"

 

They all did so, and Peppa found herself shaking in fear. A single, shrouded figure appeared before them, and its power level was increasing rapidly. One hundred. Five hundred. One thousand. The numbers kept climbing and climbing, before coming to a halt at an unbelievable nine thousand, three hundred, and forty-nine.

 

He raised a finger and with a single twitch, the Saiyans' scouters shattered. Leaving them without means to see his without a literal demonstration.

 

"So Saiyans," his dark voice articulated, as he slowly walked down the steps. "You are the ones that I felt, I also see that you've bested my men." He smiled, his dark grin only accented the cold sending chills down the spines of the Saiyans. "I am Lord Slug and none of you will be making off this rock alive."

 

* * *

This wasn't a moment that I had thought would come so soon. I suppose after meeting Turles, I should have realized that other movie villains would be around, but I would never have thought that I would run into one before Kakarot was even born. This was really bad.

 

"Okay!" Dad yelled up, popping into his combat stance. "Spread out. If we can keep a good distance between us, he won't be able to take us out in one shot."

 

"I wouldn't be sure of that, Saiyan."

 

Slug was already between Dad and me. We jumped back away from him, in sequence a blast from each of us meet the figure of Slug. Sadly, the Namekian just swatted them away with little effort, the shots hitting the ground somewhere down the street.

 

"You Saiyans amuse me. You all rely on your eyes far too much."

 

Dad grabbed his right forearm with his left hand, then he did a twist motion. That arm soon became enveloped in a red flame. Jumping towards Slug with little abandon, Dad struck at him with this attack, the nearly disguised Namekian barely dodging the attack with the narrowest of margins. The two began to play some sort of game, where Dad was constantly going after him, but the strikes were dodged with simple movements, like jumping and ducking.

 

It was when Slug twirled around from one of Dad's blows that Peppa struck him with her own inflamed limb. His back ripped open and purple blood flew into the air, splashing onto her matching armor. Dad followed up that attack by catching him off guard due to the shock of being hit by managing to snag him right in the nose.

 

Slug flew through a frozen store window. The heat of the blows had transferred to him, misting the air through the contrast of temperature.

 

I could just make out the red glow of Slug's eyes from the shadows of the store. I threw myself into Peppa, knocking her to the ground and barely dodging the red beams myself. So I decided to respond to this attack with my typical method.

 

"Saturday Crush!" I yelled, flinging a concentrated blast of ki into the shop, blowing it up. And the block of buildings behind it. Leaving just the smoking husks of said buildings left.

 

"Snrk," Peppa snorted, catching my attention down below me. "'Saturday Crush?'" She laughed under her breath. "What next? Sunday Surprise? Or Pancake Tuesda--hahaha." She broke into laughter that was much louder. She then rolled out from under me. Setting up with little fanfare besides holding her stomach from said laughter.

 

After a moment of looking at my confused face, she must have felt pity for me. Holding out her hand I reached up and leveraged my weight on hers dragging myself up from the ground. She still had a massive smile on her face.

 

That was when a long green thing shot forward, snagging her in its grip and flinging her off into the distance. That fucking Slug.

 

With a roar, I soared into the fire and smoke, enraged and heedless of my Dad's warning against such an action. I allowed my anger to fuel my actions and it wasn't long until I entered close range with the Namekian.

 

His attempted thump was effortlessly dodged when I used my tail to wrap around his forearm and swing a kick to his face. He jumped back slightly to get some distance, but my rage made me faster than he was at the moment. With rapid-fire blows to his stomach, I lifted him off his feet and kicked him back once more.

 

Charging up a massive sphere above my head, I let it lose at this thing, with little regard to my own closeness to the blast radius. The resulting explosion rammed me back out to the streets that Dad and Turles were at. Skidding across the ground, Dad's leg caught up kicking me up to my feet.

 

"What were you thinking?" Dad started to shake me. I don't know why he thinks that I was thinking about anything other than destroying the target there? Perhaps I overreacted to Peppa being thrown away. "He is much too dangerous for you to take on alone."

 

That was when Peppa came back from her trip, nary a wound on her beside some building debris that got stuck in her hair. There was a slight edge to her grin that wasn't there before though, it looks like she didn't like that trick any more than I did.

 

"Where is that bastard?" she growled, causing Turles to step slightly away from her. "I'll rip his head off and feed it to the worms!" I found her threats to be more adorable than it was unsettling to hear.

 

"You see!" Dad clipped me lightly off the top of my head. The action just about stung but it wasn't a rough hit in any means. "You went mental for no reason."

 

That drew a stare from Peppa and a snicker from Turles. I looked away from the two, too embarrassed over my own actions. At least that last shot from me got rid of Lord Slug before he could really get going, I wouldn't have wanted to see what even the elderly Slug was capable of when going all out. Sadly that was when soft clapping was heard, and it came from the smoke and fire.

 

He exited the ruined, flaming building, his cloak had been discarded, as were the face mask and the gloves. That left his clear wrinkly Namekian features clear for all to see.

 

"Now that was unprecedented," His voice came out, it was no longer the smooth calm voice that we heard from him prior, but instead it was tainted with rage. "I never thought that I could be hurt so much. I'm frankly impressed with you Saiyans, but I'm done with you all."

 

Slug spread his legs and roared. The ground quaked at the power he displayed as I started to feel the raw power he was unleashing at the moment. Then he started to grow, becoming wider, becoming taller and then before we knew it...Lord Slug was about 40 to 50 meters high. So now, there was a giant Namekian and no moon in sight.

 

"His jaw is enormous!"

 

Looking at my only friend, I was glad Peppa was here with me. At least I would die feeling nostalgic about a parody about another battle maniac.


	5. Slug's Toccata

Fear, the like of which I had never felt before, in either of my lives. With the way he towered over us, I was sure that this was how the innocent people slaughtered by Oozarus felt before they were crushed beneath the mighty beast.

 

“I’ll just get rid of you fools,” Slug stepped forward. The world around us shook with every step he made. This was a true monster. “I’ve only a handful of weaklings left, you saiyans have done too much damage to escape this rock with your lives.”

 

His eyes started glowing. I felt frozen to this spot like time had started to slow down as the eye beams rushed out of him and towards us. As they did I could feel the heat come at me like lava out of a volcano, I could also feel someone smack me from behind, flinging me away from the blast radius.

 

“Get out of the way,” Dad yelled, I could barely make  **out**  the forms of Peppa and Turles in each of his arms. I slammed my feet down to the ground, skidding across the asphalt and taking along large chunks of it in my wake.

 

That meant that I could see the damage that Slug had just created. The raw amount of destruction made my own attacks prior to this insignificant. A massive chasm was where a good third of the city behind was before, it  **was**  so deep that I could see no bottom to it.

 

“What!” Turles let out with an anguished howl, after having been dropped by Dad. “This isn’t possible is it?”

 

“Shut up!” I yelled at him, gathering my thoughts. Do we need to use his massive size to our advantage somehow? If I remember right he shouldn’t be any faster like that even if he is stronger, if so then we should be able to gang up on him as Oozaru. “Right then, I have a plan.”

 

“Quick then!” Dad barked as we took proper cover through several buildings.

 

We stopped inside an old shattered one, making sure to duck down to the ground as to not get spotted by the giant. We waited a few seconds in there as the giant Slug passed by the building with his large feet. I let out a sigh of relief, now it was safe to talk.

 

“Okay, Dad you do that power ball move and-”

 

“What?” He interrupted me, his stare caused my heart to skip a beat. “Power ball move?”

 

“That move that can emit blutzwaves, you can do that right?” My voice went quieter with every word. This was bad.

 

“Wow,” Peppa popped up over my shoulder, projecting her voice up and over mine. “That is an amazing technique, I gotta see it.”

 

“That does sound like an amazing technique, but I’ve never heard of it before,” Dad placed a hand on his chin, thinking. “I suppose it would be possible, I know enough about how moonlight works to replicate the effect,” He shook his head. “That could take weeks of experimenting though.”

 

“Okay,” I yelped grabbing own hands, I rubbed and twisted them around. Sweat started to form on my brow, I wiped it with my right hand. “New plan, he has giant ears, that means he...hears...very well.” I stopped for a second, turning my head to look around us. “He can hear everything I just said.”

 

“That’s correct,” The booming voice of the elder namekian told us, my knees started to shake, this was bad as fuck. “This is the end for you. primates.”

 

I heard a ki blast being flung off at me. It was already too late for me to react to it, as the heat washed over my back. For just a second, I watched as we as if, in slow motion, started to rise in the air. Each of us having a shocked expression. Then the explosion finally happened.

 

* * *

Watching the carnage from far away were the Rygolians. Kota and Yaki, the two were staring at a computer screen watching the events unfold. They both had very different feelings about what was going down.

 

Kota had mixed feelings. On one hand, he knows that the Saiyans were only here to do the same thing that Slug was doing, wiping out his people, so either wiping out the other was fine in his book. On the other hand, three of these Saiyans were just children, still innocent with smiles and jokes, except that grey one. It was hard to sit back and do nothing when children were being killed.

 

Yaki had a slightly different perspective. He felt that the only suitable result of this was for the saiyans to come out on top. Yaki believed that intent without action was meaningless, and therefore whatever intention the saiyans had originally when coming here didn’t matter. What did was if they could kill Slug.

 

That was when a loud beeping noise was heard in this room.

 

The two stared at the source of this noise. A large red blinking button next to a screen that read, ‘Fire  **The Photonic Cannon’**. They walked over to the controls, slowly making sure that neither one was faster but also that they never outpaced each other. Then they turned to look at the screen.

 

“One shot of this would surely kill that monster.” It was Yaki that spoke up first.

 

“Would it?”

 

“What do you mean?  **The Photonic Cannon**  is the most powerful weapon our people ever created.”

 

“Yes but surely if it was a threat then why hadn’t they got rid of it?”

 

“So what, you think that it won’t be effective against that creature?”

 

“Possibly,” Kota tapped his horn thinking. What could they use the cannon on that would allow them to defeat this monster. Would targeting the ship, allow it. This creature was old, it was possible that destroying it would mean that it lacks the medical supplies needed to survive at that age, but that could take weeks, and Slug would be able to kill them in that time. Revenge is no good if they were dead.

 

“I have it, I know what we need to target,” Yaki spoke up, his long limb slapping Kota out of his thoughts. Before Kota could retaliate though Yaki told him what he had thought up, and Kota did have to admit. His plan could work and if it did then they may have an in with the saiyans here.

[hr]

 

I opened my eyes, sitting up from the ground and rolling to my feet. I ignored the severe aches that surfaced at any movements. Looking at myself I found that I was missing all my shoulder and leg guards. The only part of the armor that was left relatively untouched was the chest piece, with only rather long scratches left on it.

 

I looked over to find Peppa knocked out, besides her, Turles was nearby and in the same state. The two of them were looking about the same as I was. Dad was nowhere to be found, but I doubt that a blast that didn’t kill us killed him.

 

Suddenly I felt a chill jump up my back. Then looking up, I found the cold stare of Lord Slug peering down on me. My heart skipped a beat. Oh man.

 

“You are still alive?” He raised a massive eyebrow down on me, Slug seemed to be amused by my survival. “And I can see that your two friends are as well.”

 

“Well,” I steadied my heart beat by closing my eyes and imagining a cool waterfall, calming down. “You know what they say about monkeys on a tree?” I asked him, making something up as I go along. I was also trying to be as upbeat as possible. Perhaps that would take him off guard.

 

“No, I don’t think that I have heard that,” Slug actually considered the simile I just made up, he glanced down with a thoughtful look to his feet. “What do they say about monkeys on a tree?” He seemed to have given up on thinking about it, but that was when I got an idea. Gathering energy to the back of my throat.

 

“They tend to go for the eyes,” I told him, then my smile transformed into a snarl before I roared, blasting an energy wave out of my mouth and right into Slug’s unguarded left eye. Without looking to see if the blow landed, I grabbed Peppa and Turles by their arms and flung them in one direction, while I flew off in another.

 

I turned around to catch a look at the giant, only to see that he was still distracted by that blast to the eye. That was when I looked to his giant eardrums once more. He was a namekian after all, he should be weak against whistling,

 

I slammed the brakes on my flight, turning to face him, pushed my lips together and blew. Nothing happened. I seem to have forgotten how to whistle. Well, I couldn’t whistle in my last life either but I suppose this is what I get for not learning it now.

 

“I’m going to get you, you little brat.” It seems that the namekian hadn’t recovered from it yet. I could at least try to take advantage of this.

 

I landed down on a rooftop, bent my knees and cupped my hands to my side. I could feel the energy gather even before I started the chant. I closed my eyes. “KAA,” I visualized my power, imagining it in its place. “MEEE,” I forced it out, more and more of it until I could feel the power in my palms. “HAAA,” I condensed it, forcing more power into the same amount of space without releasing it, this one needed to be much larger than the one I used earlier. “MEEE,” Now I opened my eyes and brought my arms forward, ready to let it all go.

 

“HAAA!”

 

My Kamehameha wave erupted from my position, it was almost my size, and it filled up the area with an almost sky blue light as it homed in on Slug. With a mighty boom, it slammed into him, that was when I started to feel a push against the attack.

 

“YOU little,” Slug started to walk towards me, brushing through the Kamehameha with scarce effort. “When I get my hands on you. You’ll wish that I’d killed you.” That was a worrying statement, better do something about it.

 

“HAA”

 

I threw more of my power into the wave, shoving the giant namekian back several paces and through a building. Together they made a mighty crunch. Sadly I could feel myself run out of power for this shot. I had not trained this technique enough to keep up a sustained beam like this.

 

“I have you now!” The left arm of Slug outstretched an extraordinary length. I flew into the sky, buzzing around the limb in an attempt to remain unsnared by its grip. This was not to be as I soon found his fingers around my torso. The next second went by and I was at Slug’s face.

 

“I GOT YOU NOW!” Oh, he was angry. I could feel that anger around my ribs as he squeezed tightly, not yet enough to hurt me but just the right amount for him to let me know that the pain is coming.

 

“Now, I know what you are thinking” I squeaked up, trying to squeeze out of his fingers. “Should I crush him? And the answer-”

 

“HEY GREEN BEAN!”

 

A blue beam struck Slug right in to temple, not powerful enough to force him to drop me, but strong enough to cause him to stumble.

 

“Let go of my son”

 

Oh thank god, that was Dad’s voice screaming out at him. This attack and the yelling drew Slug’s attention away from me. This gave me an idea. He would be expecting me to use a mouth beam again, so instead, I will take a page out of his book.

 

I tried to visualize how he seemed to do it in my mind, the way the beams would shoot out. Their color, the speed. I gathered the power to the fore, and let it rip. That was when things got odd, my eyes flashed a strobe of light out instead of the beams of ki that I was going for. Slug had been dazzled by this accidental technique, not really blinded, but enough confusion was created for a yellow ki blast to come flying into one of his unprotected eyes.

 

“MY EYE!” Slug screamed releasing me from his grip. “WHY DO THESE SAIYANS LOVE HITTING ME IN THE EYE?”

 

As I left his grasp but before I could start flying off myself, Peppa popped right down from above me. Lifting me by my armpits she flew me and her off towards Dad with little inactivity.

 

“Fancy seeing you here, Dish,” She winked down at me. “Can’t let ya out of sight, can I? Next thing I’ll know, you’ll take on Freeza in your underpants.” Peppa giggled, dropping me roughly to the ground.

 

“Yeah, I’m the one that goes off against Freeza in their underwear,” I rolled my eyes at her. Sometimes it felt like she thought that I was the battle maniac. Brushing off the debris from my shoulder, I turned around to ensure that I was facing Slug. “Okay,” I needed to get this out there while I can. “He has big ears, it means they should be sensitive against certain sounds.”

 

“Really?” She placed a hand on her chin. “What kind of sounds, farting? Burping?”

 

“What?” I had no idea why her head went in that direction. Why would farting hurt someone's ears? “No, whistling.”

 

“Wow...that is dumb,” Peppa licked her lips and narrowed her eyes. “You're not messing with me? Why haven’t you done it then?”

 

“I...can't whistle.”

 

“Oh, yeah that makes sense,” The nonchalance of that sentence annoyed me. How does that make sense, I’ve not failed at anything in front her since I’ve met her? “You're not much of a singer either,” She must have noticed my twitching eye because she went on. “You sing in the shower, it's pretty bad.” That is embarrassing to find out at this moment.

 

“Right,” I huffed, crossing my arms while doing so. I wanted to go back to getting crushed by Slug. “Let's get back to it.” She nodded at me with a shit-eating grin.

 

It seemed that Dad was keeping his distance from the maniac giant. He kept flinging blasts at Slug’s eyes, the namekian covering his eyes to ensure that he didn’t get hit by there yet again, which allowed Dad to keep that distance. With a free arm, Slug stretched its length, swiping the limb across the ground, slashing through buildings like butter.

 

He grabbed Dad like he had done to me before, but before he started crushing him, Turles finally did something. Flying far above us all Turles blasted purple ki down at the giant’s left ear. This didn’t do much to him, but it did cause Slug to at least flinch.

 

I nodded at Peppa, trying to convey the message to start with the whistling. She did so, which meant that Slug had the reaction that I was hoping for, minus letting Dad go that is, by dropping to his knees in pain.

 

Then I commenced the next stage of my plan, I started to gather what power I had above my head. Shaping it, I concentrated hard on ensuring the energy was sharp. That there is a flow to it, this allowed me to create a crescent blade above the palm of my raised hand. It was bigger than I thought I was making it, but this will be a perfect size.

 

“October Slasher!”

 

A perfect green crescent blade soared through the air, striking right at the giant hand that was holding Dad. It just slit through Slug’s wrist like a hot knife through butter, separating his hand from the rest of his arm. Dad flopped out the now feeble grip of the hand that was holding him. He then charged a ki blast in his head and blasted Slug back. Hitting the super namekian right in the eye.

 

“EHHA, MY EYE!”

 

Well, we certainly know how to target a weak point on someone, but sadly as Peppa was taking a deep breath to start whistling once more, it seemed that this time it seemed that the elder namekian was going to just work through the pain. He roared, throwing his arms out and sending a blast of energy that expanded like a dome.

 

I blasted a hole into the ground, throwing myself and Peppa into it. Slug’s attack just about passed over us harmlessly, singeing the edges of my hair left in the air.

 

“That was close,” Peppa darted her head out of our little hole. “Damn this geezer is tough,” She looked back down at me. “Well, we’re a bit young to end up here, let's get back to it.” Her lips started their motion and before I knew she had got back to whistling a merry tone.

 

Not one to be left behind, I jumped out of the pit after her like a rabbit going for a carrot.

 

What I found back above didn't really surprise me. Slug had already used his namekian regenerative powers to regrow his hand, the old one was still limp on the ground. Our enemy was screaming in pain while also waving about a hand to ward off Dad and Turles, who were buzzing about him like flies around a good meal.

 

I quickly joined the duo in the sky, raining down dozens of ki blasts at the screaming green giant. Soon Turles descended down below, no doubt heading towards Peppa so that he can take a break for a moment. That left just me and Dad at the job, this momentum was sadly ruined.

 

Turles had not gone down there to rest for a moment, but instead to inquire to why Peppa was on the ground just whistling, while he did all the work. This moment was of her not whistling did not end too well for us up here. Slug’s good eye flashed, sending a ki bolt out at both of us.

 

I held my hand out in front of me, the bolt running into said hands, ramming me onto the ground once more. I forced it up with a shove, sending the thing careening off into the distance, exploding harmlessly off in the distance.

 

I looked back over to where Peppa and Turles were, finding that Turles was still arguing with her about how much she was contributing to this mission. He was a massive problem in this mission, I had been willing to give him a certain amount of leeway until now. I would’ve let him talk smack talk all he wanted if he hadn’t endangered our lives, but he had now.

 

But before I could make any movements towards commenting a plan, a massive cannon exploded out of a pit far from us. Only the object’s enormous size allowed me to see that it was some sort of cannon. That was when a voice could be heard over loudspeakers.

 

“YOU MONSTER!” It was Kota...or Yaki. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between their faces, nevermind their voices. “DIE MONSTER YOU DON’T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!”

 

With that said the cannon turned slightly, aiming in the general direction of the giant namekian. Slug’s face was hilarious, but as the cannon lit up, so did his hand. Then like a western, the two fired their shots.

 

The cannon extraordinary beam raced across the sky like a comet, while the sphere that Slug sent reminded me of a missile. They narrowly passed each other by, Slug’s attack smacking through the cannon like it was paper, but the cannon’s continuing passed the giant.

 

“Oh, come on,” I whined, kicking a rock towards Slug while doing so. “He’s fifty meters tall, how could you miss him?”

 

That was when I saw that the cannon’s beam had hit something far above in the sky. There was a massive explosion, accompanied by the massive clouds above being split open. Revealing the night sky to us for the first time since arriving at this world. That was when I saw it.

 

The Full Moon.

 

The world became blurry, the ground softer, and the buildings smaller. I could feel my nose start to bend, to expand and my mouth became wider. My chest soon inflated like a balloon, I felt like I was going to explode from all these changes. Then the thing next I know, the world

became red.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Slug couldn’t remember the last time he was forced to exert himself so much. These saiyans were far too wily for his liking, dodging and escaping every attempt at killing them. It had gone beyond annoying, if he didn’t want this world so much, he would have just left it and destroyed the whole lot from above.

 

But no.

 

He had to fight them in person, to send a message to his remaining men that he was invincible, even in his old age. Now, he was struck in a brawl with four very angry Oozaru. Usually, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, even with the increase to their battle power the Oozaru transformation meant that they were dumb. That allowed him to overcome even the adult's newfound advantage of raw power over him.

 

Sadly, in his old age, he had begun to lose much of his stamina for combat. He just couldn’t keep up this level of power for long periods anymore. That meant he had to finish this fight soon. Otherwise, the transformed saiyans were going to overwhelm him.

 

The one in green armor attacked him first, its red armbands marking the creature as unique. Slug could feel that this one was the strongest. Coming in with speed that contrasted with its size, a left hook caught the namekian off guard, he tumbled to the ground and through a building.

 

Sitting against the building behind the prior one like it was a chair. Slug managed to block the next strike from this Oozaru in this position but was unprepared for a second Oozaru that leaped for him from behind his back. The green giant now propelled onward, collapsing face down onto the ground, the Oozaru this time was the one wearing brown armor.

 

It battered him with its fists, whacking him on the back of the head several times. Each blow feeling like a small nuke to Slug’s head. He rolled over, knocking the beast from his back, and flipping back to his feet.

 

Then once up, he hurled both attackers away with a massive push of ki.

 

That was when a grey-armored one slammed down on him with a double fist hammer punch, but Slug caught this one with a single hand. This Oozaru was far weaker than the other two were. Just when he was about to retaliate against this one, a beam came flying out of the brown one’s mouth striking him away,

 

“I’m through with you monkeys!” The namekian screamed, his front facing these monsters. “Just die already.” He charged a large ball of energy above his head, but just as he was about to throw it, half a building flew right into it, engulfing the tyrant within his own explosive ki.

 

The thrower was another Oozaru, this one wearing purple armor.

 

When the smoke of the explosion finally cleared, Slug had already blasted out a beam. It went right through the shoulder of the strongest Oozaru. It crumpled to the ground, roaring in pain like the animal it appeared to be.

 

The other apes barreled into the green man, snarling and attempting bite at his arms. With a sweeping kick Slug backed up away from them, but the brown one wouldn’t let a kick stop them. With a strength that it hadn’t the last time they came to blows, it dug its fingers into the skin of Slug’s arm.

 

Slug was lifted clear by the arm and banged down painfully into the ground. Indented it with all the weight that two of them was bringing to bear. The namekian found himself being pounded once more by the fists of this great ape. This led his sight to a reflection of the moon on a nearby window.

 

“FUCK YOU APES!” Slug yelled, forcing his attacker off him, but only to discover that the other two apes that were still standing started to rain down on him a barrage of ki blasts from their mouths. It all rammed into him, crashing his frame right back into the terrain.

 

The green giant rolled to his feet, uppercutting the grey one and causing him to fly into the brown one. The two of them fell like rocks, cutting through few buildings with a savage snap.

 

The brown one stood again, but this time the purple one came along with him whacking Slug down with their ape fists. Attacking in a cadence that was not unlike a dance, each blow seemed to follow a pattern that the elder namekian was just about able to make out.

 

Slug absorbed the damage as much as he could before shooting out beams from his eyes, burning a hole through the purple one’s left leg. He then arose from the ground, grabbing the other Oozaru’s fist with one hand and his chest armor with the second.

 

He flung it with a judo throw into the last remaining Oozaru, knocking them to the earth with a massive boom. Slug took this chance to finally commence his plan. He gathered power to his hand, particles of light being emitted slowly assembling in the center until it developed into a beam that was shot into the sky.

 

The Moon was no more.

 

Slug grinned at the rapidly shrinking brown-armored one. The two shared a glare between themselves. That was when the elder noticed that he had begun to shrink. Destroying the moon had taken a great deal of energy; he would have to return to normal size if he wanted to have the power to eliminate the last two.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

This time, I was waking up with even more pains than the last. This was starting to get ridiculous. At this stage the next time I wake up from a nap I’ll have lost limbs. I grappled onto a nearby wall, my fingers digging through the concrete that it was made from. Hopefully, our Oozaru rampage managed to take out that old fucker.

 

“Frankly, if you saiyans didn’t frustrate me so much, I’d offer you all a job.”

 

I turned my head, my limbs feeling like jelly as I struggled to stand on my own and put up my guard. Slug stood right in front of me; his clothes were ripped and he was breathing so heavy that I was sure that the guy would fall over at a stiff breeze.

 

“You got to work on your game old man,” I taunted him, seeing some movement from the corner of my eye. Better keep his attention on me. “You ain’t killing nobody with your old ass game.”

 

“Oh, that won’t work on me, boy,” Slug shrugged, with a smile on his face that reminded me of a large wolf. “I'm already enraged so much that I am going to eat your spleen. I can’t get any angrier.”

 

That was when he raised his arm up, a green ball expanding from the center of his hand. I copied his motion, a purple sphere mirrored his own. That was when a ring of energy hurled into Slug’s chest from above, crashing him into a building. I took my chance slung my attack after him. The resulting explosion shook the ground and threw the Namekian back.

 

“That was a good shot,” I took a deep breath after saying that. Given that compliment almost felt like it hurt, but I wasn’t one to not give praise where it was earned. “Turles”

 

“Thank you, it takes real talent to pick your targets like me.” His bruised arm slapped his chest, Turles then yelped from the pain that hitting his hurt body like that. You know for the little shit he was, Turles wasn’t too bad of a guy. Well, if you were a saiyan anyway.

 

“Le-” I was interrupted by a dark green beam being shot at me. Barely jumping out of the way, I scraped across the ground, dragging jagged glass into my exposed legs. “Fuck,” I pulled the glass out with little care, leaving blood trailing down off the wound. “Let's get him!”

 

Turles threw a blast that Slug just waved away with little care. Turles quickly shoved me back to my feet, the two of us roared, running up to the Namekian swinging our fist right into his jaw. We scrambled around each other, and I went in for a low kick, while Turles went high with a beam above Slug, forcing him to stay on the ground into my waiting attack.

 

Turles followed that with a double hammer fist. Slug caught the attack with little trouble, but he left himself open to my next attack. I swung around him, my knee being covered flaming ki and heading for the small of his back.

 

He threw my counterpart into me, causing to two us to fly into yet another abandoned building. This time, some sort of clothing store.

 

“You know,” Turles said, spitting out a wad of blood, its red color splashing onto our boots. “Now would be a good time for you to use that cutting move again.”

 

Oh, yeah. I can do that. Well, better not say that out loud, don’t want to give him any ammunition to use against me. So I just went to work at gathering my energy for my attack. It was going to be a lot weaker than my first one.

 

“Ok,” I nodded at him while making the pose for the attack. “While I do this, you have to distract him, and given how badly he was kicking my ass...oh, you’ll be ok.”

 

He gave me a really cross look as Slug entered the broken-up store with slow swagger. A grin was on his purple-bloodied lips as his feet crunched the glass of the window under his feet. Turles flew out at him with reckless abandon, nary any thought put into defense.

 

Well, somehow this seemed to work for him, as all Slug was doing was dodging the attacks with minute movements. This gave me all the time that I needed though, with a hand above my head I threw my energy blade attack right for Slug’s head shouting:

 

“OCTOBER SLASHER!”

 

Turles dropped to the ground, my move sailing over him like light over the horizon. As for Slug, he leaped back out of the store, though not out of the way of my attack. That was when he held up a single hand towards the attack and did something shocking.

 

“Haha, going for the same attack twice,” He let the attack come really close to him, and then stretched out a hand behind it. The hand grasped the ki blade and squeezed it, causing all the energy to disappear. “No move works more than once against Slug.” He ended his maniac speech with a laugh.

 

“KAA,” Was the next sound that I heard rumbling throughout the streets. “MEE," It's soft feminine sound signaling who it was. “HAAA,” Honestly this might be the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. “MEEE,” I ran out into the streets, just in time to see the blue glow in the sky. “HAAA.” The blue came tumbling down in a huge surge closing on top of the now yelling Namekian.

 

The incoming boom created a large dust cloud that stayed up long enough for Peppa to slink on down to the ground next to me. With a grin on her lips and a limp in her step, she wandered up to me with delight on her face.

 

“Hey,” Peppa popped her head over my shoulder at the gawking Turles. “My kill!” She yelled out, striking up a certain finger at him. I had taught her well. She hopped back from me for a second, floating above in the air.

 

“What do you think,” She twirled around. “Dish, was that epic?” The smile on her face caused one to appear on mine.

 

“Ye-” I was once more interrupted. Except for this time, it was not a voice or a sound, but a fist that pummelled me across the face. Slamming me to ground, busting my head hard enough that the world spun.

 

“I HAVE HAD IT,” Slug screamed at the top of his lungs. “First this piece of shit dies, then the rest of you.”

 

I could barely make the scream of Peppa as she was punched into Turles, sending the two of them hurling back through the store I had just been with the latter. Then Slug’s boot found itself crunching down on my shoulder, a crackling noise soon followed it. This was the worst pain that I had felt during this life so far as he began to grind the heel of his boot further into the injury.

 

“HEY, SNAIL FOR BRAINS,” Dad’s here, he would stop this pain. “GET AWAY FROM MY SON!”

 

I watched from the ground as Dad’s bloody fist rammed into the center of Slug’s forehead. The Namekian was soon hit again, this time a right kick to the face, launching him into the air. The fight was brought up there with Slug, and a dazzling amount of limbs went flying between the two of them.

 

The resulting action went much too fast for me to keep up with. One moment they were at one point, the next another. For a single second, I saw them met in mid-air, their fists bumping together so hard that I could feel a shockwave. Then Dad hit the ground once more, nursing a hole in his shoulder. I wonder when he got that?

 

“A man of your talent, they don’t come along very often,” Slug descended to the ground, breathing heavily but still in a much better condition that either myself or Dad. “Its a shame to have to kill such talent.”

 

The smug in his voice made me want to stand up and sock him right in his enormous jaw, even though I still couldn’t find the power to.

 

“Let me guess,” Dad chuckled, wiping his mouth with his armbands. “This is where you offer me a job?”

 

“Oh, it's just a shame that I’ll have to kill you.”

 

With that out of the way, the two reentered combat against each other. The first round was a draw, they had lodged a fist in each other jaw. The next shot was when by my Dad, who had caught the next blow under his armpit and headbutted Slug in retaliation. Slug got a comeback when he used two of his fingers to cut into the hole in Dad’s shoulder.

 

Dad screamed as he poked Slug right in the eye.

 

“MY FUCKING EYE, WHAT IS WITH YOU SAIYANS AND HITTING ME IN THE EYE”

 

That was the moment that Turles stood out from the store with a bloody gash going down the side of his face. Then he started to whistle, a sound that brought a smile to my lips, but only pain for the elderly super Namekian. Once more, this caused him to be distracted when Dad’s right fist became enflamed in red ki and stabbed through Slug’s chest.

 

“Damn you,” With hands over his ears, Slug’s eyes glowed and the beams shoot into Dad’s legs. Dropping him to the ground in pain. “If I’m going, I’ll at least take you with me.”

 

At this moment I stood up, taking all my remaining energy and gathered it in the palm of my hand and before Slug could deal a final blow, I chucked it right at the bastard. It battered him right back to a wall, shattering the wall, but not knocking him to the ground. I did fall back to the ground.

 

“With this!” Dad grunted, now he himself sitting up from the ground with a blue sphere surrounding his hand. “I end this!” He threw the spinning ball of ki at the still grasping monster, striking him in the chest and hurtling into the sky.

 

A beautiful blue explosion rang out up there, highlighting the color of the world in the death of Lord Slug.

 

Turles dragged the still form of Dad over to my own still form. After that, Turles collapsed down next to us, joining Dad and me in our deep breaths. It was over finally, we had defeated Lord Slug with a great amount of time, effort, teamwork and most importantly, whistling.

 

“Guys!” Peppa’s voice came out of the store from earlier. “I need some help, can’t pick myself up!”

 

The three of us out here shared a look. At this moment I came to complete agreement with Turles for the first time in my life. We started to laugh at how true the statement was for all of us. This might be a long trip back to the pods.


	6. That was Quick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the title is a bit ironic, but what can you do? Honestly though, I kind of forget about this version of the story... so oops. 
> 
> That just means that I got plenty of a backlog here to post.

“Hello!” A happy green face spoke up.

 

I wasn’t expecting to wake like this. I expected either my Dad’s stern face or Peppa who liked to wake me up by pulling on my hair. What I did not expect was the rather ugly face of a Rygolian. Honestly, it was the horn that gave me the most concern, I’m kind of worried that they would stab me with it accidentally.

 

“Hey,” Was my eventual response. I was a man of few words at times. “Where am I?”

 

“Oh,” The alien looked embarrassed. “I and Kota found the whole lot of you folks passed out on the street after defeating Slug,” Yaki revealed while pointing at my new arm sling. That forced me to notice all the other bandages around my body.  “We took you guys in.”

 

“That was after you took over Slug’s ship,” Turles protruded around my the edge of my vision. He looked closer to a mummy than he did a saiyan warrior right now.  “That’s where we are, by the way, the ship’s medical bay.” While I think its a decent looking place, much better looking than its previous owner.

 

“Yes,” Yaki seemed embarrassed by what he said next, I think? His skinned going slightly purple like this could be him being angry. “Well, we have need of such a vessel.”

 

“Planning on moving?” Turles stared right into Yaki’s eyes. I think that he might be into him, not a relationship I see going anywhere. “You better, the Trade Organisation have set their eyes on this world and there nothing anyone can do about it.”

 

“Can’t you-” Before he could finish that sentence the two of broke out in laughter. Which lead to me holding my side in pain.

 

“Don’t be absurd, even if we decided to stay and protect you, that would be not enough once Freeza takes notice,” I explained in a manner that I was told later was condescending. “Then it takes one call to the Ginyu Squad and its all over for all of us.”

 

“I see,” Yaki nodded, slightly dejected at the news. “I suppose it was just too much to hope for,” Then it seemed as if he cheered up as a happier thought entered his head. “Then it must be good fortune that we took over this ship then.” That it was.

 

“Where are the others?” I turned to Turles.

 

“Well, Bardock is out talking to one of Slug’s scientist that has defected, and besides a hole in his shoulder he should be fine until we get to proper healing tanks.”

 

“And Pe-”

 

“BOOO!”

 

I leaped from my bed in a wild panic, clinging onto an oddly shaped ceiling fan. I spun along with it, each rotation adding to my anger at the one giggling down below me. Peppa was laying down on my bed now, a cast on her leg and bandaged all over. She was going to get it for this act.

 

“When I get down from here!”

 

Before I could make my way down to her, she flew out of the room continuing her laughing as if I wasn’t dead on her heels. Going out into the corridor, I took some time to take in the foreboding decor; Slug did pretty well for himself in picking it, matched the whole faux-Lord Zedd style he was going on.

 

Turning around a corner I found that Dad was waiting for me, with a still giggling Peppa held over his good shoulder coal bag style. He also had his own sling around his other arm, accompanied with a greater deal of bandages than my own.

 

“What are you two doing?” He asked, looking down at me with amusement. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

 

“Maybe,” Peppa spoke up, trying her best to be nonchalant about it. “What was your talk with the eggheads about?”

 

“This and that,” Dad waved his hand. “Just getting their opinion on something, but also... we kind of accidentally... destroyed our own space pods,” Dad scratched that back of his head, chuckling merrily as he did so. “We’ll be taking a smaller ship that is in this one’s hanger, it just might be a tight squeeze.”

 

With that we walked towards another part of the ship, Turles soon coming out of nowhere to follow us. The part we ended up in was some kind of mix of a command room and a throne room. Once more I would really like to complement Slug’s decor, if I get a massive ship I’ll have to find his decorator, I’d probably pay him better.

 

“Welcome,” A new Rygolian stepped up to us. At least I think he was new to me. “I’m Surume,” That was not the most imaginative of names. What was with this race, were they all just named after squids? “And I am happy to meet the ones responsible for killing that monster Slug.”

 

“That was easy,” I boasted, smacking my chest with my good arm. “I could take on a thousand Slugs.” That got me a mild slap from Dad. I looked over at him with surprise.

 

“Don’t jinx us,” He warned me, waggling a finger up to the ceiling. “We don’t want to taunt the universe, a friend of mine started to talk like that before, after a week he disappeared,” A shake the head followed that. “Poor Kabocha.”

 

“Ehh, anyway,” Surume spoke up once more, it seemed like he was more confused by my Dad than Turles.  “On behalf of the Rygolian Remnant Government, I would like to thank you for your accidental help in acquiring this ship.” Well, at least he was honest.

 

“That's fine,” I intruded before any else could. Turles, for an example, looked like he was about to have a stroke for some reason, he might be too attracted to these guys. I don’t judge, it just gets uncomfortable to see someone get this  _excited_  at such a young age.

 

“We’re only here for the planet, keep the damn terraforming ship to give yourselves a new home if you want,” Dad took the conversation from me, possibly before I said something to lose us the smaller ship. “Just give us that ship you promised, and leave this world yourselves, and we’ll be on our way.”

 

“Otherwise things could get bloody.” Turles spoke up, raising a fist in an attempt of intimidation that just flew right over their heads.

 

“Of course, men release the docking mechanisms on the ships in the hangar bay,” He gave us a smile as one of his men started to press some keys on a computer. “You’ll have your pick of any vessel.”

 

“Good, then we will be on our way after we take a pick of supplies from the ship's pantry.” With this short talk over Dad took Turles and Peppa out of the room, leaving to catch later. I wanted to ask something first.

 

“Hey, Surume,” I walked over to him, whispering by his head. “I’ll like to ask a favor of you... if that isn’t too big of a deal?”

 

“Oh, what is it? I can’t decide without knowing what it is.”

 

“It's just that... one day I’ll need your help with something big,” I didn’t really want to go into much detail, not when idle talk could lead to bad things. “I want a planet terraformed for me. I was hoping that once you understand this thingy better, I can ask for that help.” I couldn’t be too hopeful for this. After all, I had come here to kill everyone in this room. Can’t expect much more generosity than what we got already.

 

“Of course,” Surume agreed, perhaps my manners paid off. “If we’re not too busy that is, terraforming a new world may take years.”

 

“I understand.”

 

And I really did, this was a process that most races in the galaxy don’t even care to research or can’t wrap their heads around the mechanics of it. That is why the Planet Trade Organisation is so profitable.

 

I caught up with others with little fanfare as we entered the dock. It seemed that they had raided the pantry with lightning speed. Dad had forced the other two, and now me, to carry the supplies as he held four pieces of cloth in the hand of his good arm.

 

“What’s that for?” I asked him, giving him what I hoped was a sweet look. It was a soft spot for him, as Mom proves.

 

“Just something that I want to use for sparring,” He replied mysteriously. Dad looked at me for a moment “We just need the right ship... there!”

 

That was when I saw a rather familiar ship. It was slightly bigger than I imagined it, but it looked like I thought it would in real life besides that. I did wonder though, how long will that ship take to get us home? I didn’t remember it being that fast of a ship.

 

“That is just the right size,” Dad eyed the ship up and down as if was weighing its worth. “We’ll have to take turns sparring, but that’s fine for this kind of training.”

 

“What kind of training?” Peppa left her items down on the ship’s ramp, with both me and Turles repeating the action. “Isn’t that kind of dangerous to do stuff like that, when we're like this?” That was a good question, why didn’t I think of that?

 

“Not with stuff that we’ll be doing”

 

I didn’t like that smile too much. It usually ended with bruising, and I have had more than enough of that to last me a lifetime.

 

“Hey, Bardock?” Peppa has snuck up behind Dad. “I was thinking,” A dangerous thing, given the last time I heard her say that, she sprained her ankle and killed five pigs. “About what those Octopuses were saying about their kids,” I do not like where this was going. “How are babies born?” And I am leaving, walking right into the ship to hide before Dad notices me leaving.

 

“Ask Raditz.” He says catching me by my good shoulder and turning me around. Way to throw me under the bus, Dad. How does he even know that I know that, I haven’t even had the  **talk**  yet.

 

“Well, Peppa… the thing is... babies come from... what in the world is that thing over there?” The stare she gave me told me what she thought of that ploy. “Ok, then it goes like this…”

 

* * *

**[One Month and Three Weeks Later On Planet Vegeta]**   


 

It seemed like just yesterday, that they were home. That there were screaming and laughter of the children she cared for. It seemed like it was just yesterday that she found Raditz chasing up a storm when Peppa had managed to nick the last meal. They both brought life to her house that she hadn’t been aware that she was missing before.

 

Now she was coming home from her time in the meat factory.  **Alone**. Sounds of children didn’t happen at home right now. It wasn’t like this with Bardock; she missed him, but she had gotten used to him not being home. Raditz was just a little boy, he still had nightmares.

 

Peppa had been a really great addition to the dynamic. She had been worried that her boy wouldn’t make any friends; he was so awkward around other kids. Gine was sure that it was because he had trouble connecting with their less focused attitudes about life. Peppa wasn’t too different from the other kids, but she seemed to love messing with Raditz in such a benign way; it really helped to bring him out of his shell.

 

She was starting to get worried about them, though. Gine had thought that being with Bardock would have meant quick success, but she hadn’t even got so much as a call. The technicians had told her that they had lost the transmission soon after the team landed on the planet.

 

It was a troubling situation. One that she had hoped never to be in. What if they never came back? She wasn’t sure what she would do all by herself. The old team would help her out, but that just wasn’t the same as her family. That was when her scouter started to beep.

 

Picking the device up gently, the mother of Raditz placed it her ear. She clicked the answer button.

 

“They are?” Her voice went up several octaves. If hope was what power levels were measured by, she would now outmatch Freeza himself hundreds of times over. “I’ll be right there!”

 

Suddenly Gine blasted out of her home. She was heading for the spaceport, where all the ships were launched and where they landed. Now was also the place that the rest of their family were landing down at.

 

Oh, when she got her hands on them, she would give them a piece of her mind. Scaring her like that, they had some nerve. Just see how they like it once they came home when they find that they had to cook their own meals for a month.

 

She was coming over to the port now, moving so fast that saiyans who were walking on the same pathway were blown over. Many started in awe at the woman, no one had ever seen her move so fast, but some denied what they saw, claiming that it was only a trick of the light.

 

Gine had arrived just in time to see a strange-looking ship land. It had a slightly different shape to it than the other ships she had seen in her life. It had several odd protrusions on it, together with the ship's oblong shape, gave it an appearance closer to a watermelon with spikes on than a ship.

 

It was the largest ship on the dock right now, maybe even larger than the ship that Lord Freeza could usually be seen in during his trips to Planet Vegeta. It was certainly large enough to carry a good number of people. That was when the ship opened up its ramp.

 

Bardock walked down the ramp, a smile on his face at the sight of her. That was when she noticed... the broken armor, the bruises darted around his body, he must be in so much pain. Bardock looked to her as she started running, his arms wide open and a smile on his lips.

 

She ran right past him, knocking him roughly to the ground with a hard crunch sound.

 

“Oh, my baby,” Gine picked up Raditz, crushing him in a hug with all the force of a Mother’s love. “Tell your Mom where it hurts.”  She swung him around like he was a small doll.

 

“Momm,” Raditz whined, limply struggling against her grip as the saiyans surrounding them snickered and whispered. “I’m fine now, you're embarrassing me.” She almost let go of him, until she focused on a single word.

 

“Now, you’re fine  _now_ ,” Gine frowned, glaring at the now uncomfortable Bardock. “That means that you weren’t earlier,” She picked the boy up above her head. Getting a much better glaring position at her partner. “Bardock how could you let our little boy get so hurt?”

 

“What? I didn’t let it happen,” The man denied, shaking his head in distress. “I’m wasn’t just standing around. It was a massive fight, the guy was stronger than me!”

 

That got the people around them talking. That mission they went on was meant to be a low-level one. One that was supposed to be done by children. How was there someone stronger than Bardock? He was the toughest of the low-class saiyans. Only those of higher class could defeat him in combat.

 

It was when Gine finally let go of Raditz that a certain voice was heard. A certain royal voice.

 

“Is that so,” Everyone suddenly turned, finding a saiyan with a red cape and a royal symbol on his chest plate. “That is a surprising fact to learn. How worrying that you faced such a foe,” The man twirled his mustache in one hand. “If I knew of such a thing, I would have sent a Mid-Class Warrior with you.”

 

Everyone kneeled, except for Raditz, but luckily Gine was there to pull him down with only a minor grumble from the young boy. It seemed that a larger ship being brought to the docks had alerted some people, and King Vegeta had decided to investigate this personally, bringing his guards with him.

 

“My King,” Bardock spoke up, his tone polite without being subservient. “It all worked out. You see, your highness, together we were able to overpower him.”

 

“Truly,” King Vegeta rose a single brow. “It seems though it was not without injury, let us just check,” He clicked a button on his red scouter, turning the device on. “To see if your injuries have affected your…” The King’s face turned into one of surprise. “What? The boy’s power level is... 4,000!”

 

“THAT'S MY BOY!” Gine was quickly shushed by Bardock. Now was not the time for such merriment.

 

The crowd got to whispering again, this time much louder. There were several times when someone could be heard calling the boy a prodigy. Some wondering if Raditz was now stronger than the King when he was that age? Was he stronger than the current Prince? Such strength at a young age was only heard of in the Royal Family.

 

Eventually, a guard gently tapped the King’s shoulder. This act was rewarded with a small smile from the King and allowed him to overcome his own shock at such a power.

 

“That is an impressive number young boy,” King Vegeta smiled thinly, looking like he had swallowed something sour. “Almost as strong as your father,” That was when the scouter beeped once more, reading another power. “That is weird…” The King’s eyes dilated in shock, this time his mouth dropped in shock. “Bardock’s power level is over 11,000!”

 

This time, it wasn’t the sound of whispers that came from the crowd, but silence. No one knew what to say about a saiyan that was now in spitting distance of the King’s own power. No one understood what this could mean for their world.

 

One of the King’s nearest guards, who had been eating an apple, started to choke on his food from the hysteria of the news. The one next to him being forced to a familiar maneuver that earthlings would have called the heimlich . Ultimately, the food ended up being spat out onto the King’s foot, who had luckily not recovered from his own shock and therefore not capable of dealing out punishment.

 

But Gine didn’t really care for any of that. She was only happy that her family was whole for the first time in months. King Vegeta on the other hand though, he started to get some ideas about what this could mean. What a new power like this meant for their people, what it meant for a low class to jump all the way to this power. This first to become an Elite caliber fighter.

 

And he didn’t like where these thoughts brought him. Something would have to be done about this, something that wasn’t too overt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On several things that the crowd was whispering, well, they're just whispers. Don't take them as fact. Of course, this mission was a bit of wash, besides killing Lord Slug, the planet will take decades if not centuries to recover from the environmental damage. So there's that.


	7. Day 1

We had found ourselves in a room in the palace, a place that the King did some of his business in. I had thought that it would have been the throne room, but I suppose not every matter needed that level of pizzazz.

 

I knew that Peppa had thought that this debrief would be boring, but I hadn’t thought she would fall asleep standing up during it. The only thing I could think to do was to hide her face from the side and hope that King Vegeta didn’t notice that she was asleep.

 

“Well, with the planet in the state you described... is that girl asleep?” His Royal Highness’s voice seemed to wake her back up. Peppa quickly shook her head denying the claim. The King looked at her for a few seconds before moving on, deciding to not highlight the issue.

 

“Anyways, I was going to say that while the planet’s value has decreased, your defeat of Slug on the other hand,” The King waved a hand up, as if he was weighing something. “That will give us a bounty much higher than what Rygol would have originally.”

 

“I’m glad it worked out, your highness,” Dad spoke to him in the politest tones I’ve ever heard from him, but there was something odd about the way he was looking at him. As if he was a lion, sizing him up as a rival. “But we’re in need of some rest, I’ve almost recovered from this wound, and the boy’s mother is impatient.”

 

“Is that so,” Vegeta, King edition, stroked his facial hair. He seemed to love doing that, I wondered how a mustache would feel on my face. “I suppose that I’ve gotten all that I need from you, begone with you!” Wow, he got rude fast, no wonder that… Freeza… blows… up… the planet.

 

Fuck!

 

OK, this isn’t a horrible thing. I’ve just forgotten that everyone I know will soon die. Not a thing I have to worry about. Oh god, damn it. This is fine. I have years to think of a plan. Kakarot isn’t even born yet, so I have nothing to worry about. Not sure how I had forgotten it.

 

If I nudge Dad the right way, he should be able to take on Freeza pretty soon. If Kakarot could go from over 8K to 3 million, then Dad can go from an 11k to Super Saiyan. It can’t be that hard, we just need a gravity chamber. And since Kakarot won’t be born for a while, a far longer time than it took him to go from Earth to Namek, Dad should be able to do it.

 

Sadly what happened next, was the result of Peppa pushing my still self out the door. As I had been unmoving from the shock of the impending doom of my homeworld. That was when I bumped into another kid, knocking the two of us to the floor with a light thud.

 

“How dare you!” The boy yelled at me, the two of us having quickly stood up without issue. “Don’t you know who I am? You Low-Class scum!” Well, little Veggie here was as elitist as one would expect. He was a bit smaller than I was, dressed in similar armor and cape attire to his father the King, scowling at me. I knew how to play this.

 

“I don’t know? Are you the royal footstool? You're certainly short enough,” Nailed it, got to keep this guy off guard with insults. Can’t show him any weakness. That has always worked out well for me.

 

“You have five seconds,” He raised a finger at me, ki gathering to its tip. If that was the usual level of power from him, then I should be fine. “To get down on your knees and beg for your life.” I don’t know, he can’t be tougher than Slug was.

 

“And you have 3 seconds to apologize for walking into me.” Even if Mini-Vegeta here was stronger than me. I got to have an advantage in skill on him, no way an Elite like him would be training like I do. But in either case, I mirrored his pose.

 

Ki blasted forward from the two us. Neatly compressed beams slammed into each other. Within that time frame, Vegeta came at me in an amazing burst of speed… that would have got me before Slug, but now I neatly sidestepped him with a twirling kick to his back.

 

Now we had swapped places. The scowl on his face tightened, then he smiled at me. Bending his knees, he entered a fighting pose. I entered my own, readying myself for a hard-won fight. This was going to be great.

 

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” King Vegeta yelled up stopping the two of us dead in our tracks. Grabbing our fists with his own hands, throwing as away from each other. “I will not have you two destroying my Palace in a fight.” That didn’t sound like a request so I stood down from a battle pose. At least visually, I kept my guard up and it seemed that the young Prince did the same.

 

I stood and watched the two Royals glare at each other. It looks like there is some bad blood between the two of them, if this was any indication. The King had a look that I could only describe as what if a spider crawled up your nose, while the Prince had one that made me think he was about to sneeze. Eventually, the King sighed.

 

“At least give him a week to be back on full power, he’s obviously still injured, ” Daddy Vegeta told his son, sighing at the same time. It looks like he spoils the young prince. “That way, all will know that you're not scared of a rising power.”

 

“Fine,” Vegeta Jr. scoffed, nearly spitting on the floor. “But he better show himself in a week’s time. This Low-Class scum won’t like it if he doesn’t.” Wow, I am so scared at all three-and-a-half feet of you.

 

“This won’t be to the death,” Dad spoke up, catching the Royal duo’s attention. There was another stare off, this time between Dad and King Vegeta. “I feel like I need to say that, but this little bout between you two won’t be to the death.” Like the King earlier, this wasn’t a request from my Father.

 

“Of course,” Vegeta the Moustache laughed loudly, a thin smile on his lips. “Now why would you think otherwise?” The last part was said as a whisper as if the King didn’t really want Dad to address it.

 

“Just thought that I’d make that clear to the little ones.”

 

“Yes, kids can let themselves get carried away,” He admitted pushing his lips together. “Just be sure to bring young Raditz to the Arena this day next week.”

 

Ah, the arena. I haven’t been before, but basically, it's usually used for prizefighting. The prize for Low-Classers usually is so that you can be put on a Mid-Class’s team or having a crack at a tougher mission. I don’t know what the Mid and Elite bet on, but in any case, normally it's only used by the adults, but I suppose between my power level and Vegeta’s, we probably count as adults.

 

“Of course, your majesty. I wouldn’t dream of it otherwise.” I bowed slightly, my eyes never leaving the Prince’s. You know, I think I like him better than his father; Vegeta Jr. is less slimy feeling.

 

We left the palace without any further incident. Walking down the street, Turles walked to the side of me. Tell me he’s not going to ask me what was I thinking?

 

“What were you thinking? You moron, you could have gotten us all killed.” Turles wasn't taking this too well.

 

“Oooh, I know,” Peppa elbowed him back from me, taking his position along the road with me. “Getting a good fight, now that Dish and me are so strong, it's going to be hard to find guys good enough for us to take on.”

 

“Something like that.” To be honest, I wasn't even thinking that far. The second I felt Vegeta’s power after bumping into him, I couldn’t help myself. Fighting against Vegeta.

 

After that, Turles huffed walked off back to wherever he lived as we entered back into our own home. That was when Dad placed a hand on my shoulder, I looked up at his face, at this expression that I couldn’t understand.

 

“You know, son,” He sighed, brushing his free hand over his hair. “There are times I wonder how I’ve raised such a calm boy,” His eyes were soft for just a moment. Then he slapped me upside the head. “Then you do things like that, and  _I think where did I go wrong?”_

 

With that said, Dad walked into our house much faster than I did. This gave Peppa some time to end up right behind me, as she seemed to be imagining something about my  _hair_? If what I’m hearing from her mumbling is to be believed.

 

Entering the room, I noticed that the pod I had come out of had been put back up. That was odd. Well, at least it gave me something to look at. I had been pretty young at the time, never got a good look at it. It was decently large, not unlike a healing tank. Its liquid was some kind of oxygen mix that included all the necessary materials for the growth of life.

 

And other science stuff that enters the realm of nonsense to people that lacked the raw scientific knowledge of advanced alien biotechnology. Which while I have, would take far to long for you to understand.

 

It was then I noticed something odd. There was something… floating in…

 

No matter what I am told next, I did not start screaming and panicking around the room. And they didn’t have to grab on my tail so that I would stop. None of that happened. Although Peppa did say something else.

 

“Dish is really excited for a younger brother.”

 

“I wonder how he guessed Kakarot’s name?” Mom spoke up, the question not directed at my definitely not screaming form.

* * *

Prince Vegeta sat on a chair his father sat across from him. The two had entered a stare off, it seemed to be a common past time between father and son. There was some kind of unsaid tension between the two of them. A father had somehow disappointed his son.

 

“You’re too soft, I should have killed him here,” The Prince spoke up his tone was that of confidence. “Let all know not to cross me.” The young boy pouted leaning back on his chair with a massive huff.

 

“With so little witnesses, that would have been a political nightmare,” The father responded, his tone of that of harsh criticism. “Not to mention, you wouldn’t have survived what Bardock would do if you had.”

 

“The Low-Class don’t scare me.”

 

“But Bardock isn’t a Low-Class,” King Vegeta stood up to full height, his power partially kowtowing the younger Vegeta. “Not anymore, and this Raditz… he is now in spitting distance of you. Hell, Bardock is the same to me.”

 

“Truly, they are that close?”

 

“Yes”

 

“Then they are a threat to our rule and must be eliminated!” Now it was the Prince’s turn to stand. “I will destroy this Raditz, then Bardock myself, my pride will allow no other outcome” That caused King Vegeta to laugh, surprising the younger royal. “W-why are you laughing, Father? I am an Elite Warrior. No Low-Class Garbage can possibly defeat me!”

 

With that, the son ran out of the room, angry at his father’s numerous actions. That would be fine by the young prince. He’d fixed this mistake his father made all by himself. First Raditz, and then would be Bardock. But the King sat back further into his chair, closing his eyes.

 

“This might be the key to an important lesson for you son,” He smiled his teeth glinting in the dark lit room. “You’ll learn soon, son. Power isn’t handed to you, you have to take it.”

 

* * *

Okay, now that I had calmed down, I got started on my real training. Thankfully, the trip back home finally allowed me to gain a ki sense. Even if it's only in the most basic sense, this will allow me to focus my training into one of the most useful of places: Concentration. There is no way that I could get much stronger in a week's time.

 

At least not with the resources I have on hand.

 

So, I was better off meditating my time away. I was trying to reach some kind of higher level of control. I had power, so much that I could barely grasp control over it. I was wasting as much power as I was using. If I wanted to have any chance of defeating Vegeta, I would have to get grounded. Just like a ki attack is stronger the more power is packed into it, the more focus my power is the stronger it will act.

 

“Dish, you sleeping?”

 

“No, just concentrating,” I opened my eyes at her. She finally removed the broken armor for a clean version. “Working on a new technique.”

 

“How about we test it then,” Dad walked over to me. He picked me up by a shoulder and shoved me to my feet. “A quick spar to show me, and then you rest up.”

 

“Okay,” I hopped to my feet, trying to stay light on them. I took a combat stance that Dad had drilled into me over the years. Then we slapped fists together, the resulting blow knocking Peppa back. Then disengaging him, I led in with a kick that Dad’s knee effortlessly blocked.

 

My right fist went for his face, only to find his already slapping me into the ground. When his leg came up to kick me, I raised my hands towards it. I pushed up on the limb raising my tail to slap him in the face, with this move came an opening. I struck him in the stomach.

 

Without notice, he kicked me away.

 

I slid across the ground, tearing the dirt out of the ground. I noticed the red glow for Dad’s right hand, I had to match that with my own black glowing knee. Our two attacks smacked into each other so hard that my knee nearly felt like it was shattering out from under me.

 

“I think that is enough,” He raised his hand. “No point in going any further. You need to keep yourself in top shape if you want to take on the Prince next week.” Sadly that meant that Dad would leave the training area at this moment. Meaning that I would soon be under the scope of…

 

“We’re next,” Peppa popped up, swinging an arm around and shifting into a light boxing stance. “And don’t think you can go easy on me.”

 

With those words, we entered into a game of me defending for a while, counter-attacking her whenever she would get really aggressive. This was a pattern put on a repeat cycle with each repeat amping up our speed until to most people we were nothing but thunder and blurs. I was attempting to conserve power, an exercise in control. To use as little force as possible to take on Peppa, trying to concentrate on not wasting a drop.

 

This method then led to her surprising me with my own unnamed knee attack. It struck across my chest, knocking the air out of my lungs and dropping me to the ground.

 

“Yes!” She cheered while kicking me on the ground. “Yes! This is what happens when you underestimate me, Dish.” She grabbed me by the shoulders, throwing me back to my feet and bouncing back a fair distance from me.

 

We entered into another bout of blows. Kicks met fists, and knees slammed into elbows as the ground started to crack under our feet. As our exchanges started to go into the double digits we started to ascend off the ground. In an attempt to keep the backyard stable.

 

She went in for a headbutt so I leaned back far enough that her attack stopped just a short distance from my face. I kicked her away from me, then I charged up a small ball of ki, and sent it her way. Her response was to slap the ball away with little effort.

 

The grin on her face as we landed back on the ground was only matched by that one on my own. I suppose, she did want me to go all out. The only way to improve here is to push, bend and break yourself. Let give this a go.

 

“Okay,” I swung an arm in a circle. “I have got this new technique I have been working on.”

 

“Oh, that is exciting. What is it?”

 

I bent my knees and concentrated. Soon the effect of this new technique was on display for her to see, and her face was one that spoke of being highly confused.

 

“Looks pretty,” She nodded at me, smirking as she did so. “What does it do?”

 

“Let's find out”

 

 


End file.
